Navy Accepts Delivery of Ship-to-Shore Connector, LCAC 102

The Navy’s newest Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) hovercraft arrived at Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City (NSWC PCD) Sept. 2, 2020. The two craft, LCAC 100 and LCAC 101, were escorted by NSWC PCD’s research, development, test and evaluation craft, LCAC 91. This effort is part of the Navy’s Ship to Shore Connector Program which calls for the procurement of 72 craft with a separate craft serving as a test and training craft. U.S. NAVY / Ronald Newsome

WASHINGTON — The Navy accepted delivery of the next-generation landing craft, Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC), Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC) 102, June 3, the Navy’s Program Executive Office – Ships said in a release. 

Delivery follows successful completion of Acceptance Trials with the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey to test the readiness and capability of the craft and to validate requirements. 
 
“SSC provides the Navy and Marine Corps team with the capability and capacity needed to execute a range of complex missions with agility and speed,” said Capt. Cedric McNeal, program manager, Amphibious Warfare Programs, Program Executive Office (PEO) Ships. “With increases in performance and reliability, this next generation craft will meet the needs of the fleet for years to come.” 
 
LCACs are built with similar configurations, dimensions, and clearances to legacy LCAC, ensuring the compatibility of this next-generation air cushion vehicle with existing well deck equipped amphibious ships, as well as the Expeditionary Transfer Dock. 
 
The SSC program is now in serial production with LCACs 103-115 making progress on the production lines at Textron Systems in Slidell, Louisiana.   
 
SSC training craft, LCACs 100 and 101 are in the initial operator training pipeline and are in post-delivery test and trials at Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division. 

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