this new Ultra Heavy-Lift Amphibious Connector (UHAC),
could be really helpful in peace time, today, the Navy uses the more versatile Landing Craft Air
Cushion (LCAC) to move troops and supplies from ship to shore, but these
hovercraft can’t carry much cargo, crawl over obstacles and are prohibitively
expensive to run, the vehicle's four Rolls-Royce engines consume 1,200 gallons
of fuel per hour, enter
the planned UHAC, which can carry three U.S. Abrams
main battle tanks at a time, compared to just one on an LCAC, it’s light, with
air-filled foam treads that give the fully loaded vehicle a ground pressure of
just a few pounds per square inch—lighter than an adult human’s footstep. “In
places where a person would sink into the mud, UHAC would walk right over,”
says Frank Leban, deputy UHAC program manager at ONR,
at the moment a half sized prototype is up and running, but even
that could make a huge difference in the bringing ashore of essential supplies
in a natural disaster where there are no deep water ports for normal ships to
unload, the full size vehicle should be able to power up steep slopes, climb
over 12-foot seawalls, and traverse just about any terrain: mud, sand, and even
ice, the ONR most recently tested this half-size prototype in July, but it has yet
to announce a release date for the full-size vehicle, once it arrives, the
amphibious craft could support military or disaster relief operations on almost
any coastline in the world, whilst one does not wish a disaster on
anyone, how much better could the response be with a fleet of
UHAC's to help cope with the distribution of emergency supplies?
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