A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces.
The Russian Naval Infantry, often referred to as Russian Marines in the West, operate as the naval infantry of the Russian Navy. Established in 1705, they are capable of conducting amphibious operations as well as operating as more traditional light infantry. The Naval Infantry also fields the Russian Navy’s only special operations unit, known as the ‘commando frogmen’. Frogmen are typically drawn from the Naval Infantry’s ranks, and they are capable of a wide range of special operations tasks and missions. Colloquially, Russian-speakers may refer to Naval Infantrymen using the abbreviation морпехи.
A dock landing ship is an amphibious warfare ship with a well dock to transport and launch landing craft and amphibious vehicles. Some ships with well decks, such as the Soviet Ivan Rogov class, also have bow doors to enable them to deliver vehicles directly onto a beach. Modern dock landing ships also operate helicopters.
The Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) is a class of air-cushion vehicle (hovercraft) used as landing craft by the United States Navy's Assault Craft Units and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). They transport weapons systems, equipment, cargo and personnel of the assault elements of the Marine Air/Ground Task Force both from ship to shore and across the beach. It is to be replaced by the SSC.
Landing helicopter assault (LHA) is the United States Navy's hull classification symbol for the general purpose helicopter-carrying amphibious assault ships of the Tarawa and America classes.
The Baltic Fleet is the fleet of the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea.
A Surface Effect Ship (SES) or Sidewall Hovercraft is a watercraft that has both an air cushion, like a hovercraft, and twin hulls, like a catamaran. When the air cushion is in use, a small portion of the twin hulls remains in the water. When the air cushion is turned off, the full weight of the vessel is supported by the buoyancy of the twin hulls.
The Dokdo-class amphibious assault ship is a class of landing platform helicopter (LPH) amphibious assault ships operated by the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN). Designed by Hanjin Heavy Industries (HHIC), the requirements for the amphibious landing ships were to enhance South Korea's current amphibious operation capability, both in terms of assault and military operations other than war (MOOTW) type operations.
The Bora-class hoverborne guided missile corvette of the Russian Navy, also bears the NATO class name Dergach, is one of the few types of military surface effect ship built solely for marine combat purposes, rather than troop landing or transport. Its designation in the Soviet and Russian navies is Project 1239; the first vessel produced under this designation was Sivuch, which was later renamed Bora. It is one of the largest combat sea vehicles with catamaran design.
The Zubr class is a class of Soviet-designed air-cushioned landing craft (LCAC). This class of military hovercraft is, as of 2012, the world's largest, with a standard full load displacement of 555 tons. The hovercraft was designed to sealift amphibious assault units from equipped/non-equipped vessels to non-equipped shores, as well as to transport and plant naval mines.
The Polnocny -class ships are amphibious warfare vessels. They were designed in Poland, in cooperation with the Soviet Navy and were built in Poland between 1967 and 2002. They now serve in several different navies, and some have been converted to civilian use. The name comes from the Stocznia Północna shipyard at Gdańsk, where they were built. 107 were built by 1986. In 2002, one ship of a modernised design NS-722 was built in Gdynia for Yemen.
An air-cushioned landing craft, also called an LCAC, is a modern variation on the amphibious landing boat. The majority of these craft are small- to mid-sized multi-purpose hovercraft, also known as "over the beach" ("OTB") craft. This allows troops and material to access more than 70 percent of the world's coastline, while only approximately 15 percent of that coastline is available to conventional boat-type landing craft. Typical barriers to conventional landing craft are soft sandy beaches, marshes, swampland, and loose surfaces. Air cushion technology has vastly increased the landing capability of the craft, providing greater speed and flexibility over traditional landing craft.
The Aist class was the first large assault hovercraft operated by the Soviet Navy. It was designed by the Almaz design bureau wing of the Almaz Shipbuilding Company in 1964–1965. Production of the craft lasted from 1970 until 1985 at Almaz's plant in Leningrad.
The Kalmar class are a class of medium-sized assault hovercraft designed for the Soviet Navy. The few remaining craft are operated by the Russian Navy.
The Tsaplya class LCAC is a medium size assault hovercraft operated by the Russian Navy.
The Czilim-class ACV is a small patrol hovercraft operated by the Border Guard Service of Russia.
Project 11780 Kherson was a 1980s-era Soviet LHD program derived from the Kiev-class aircraft carrier design comparable to the US Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship. The ship would have been about 25,000 tons displacement, with steam turbine power plants and carried about 12 helicopters, four Ondatra-class landing craft and two Tsaplya-class LCACs. It was cancelled with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC), also known as the LCAC 100 class, is a system proposed by the United States Navy as a replacement for the Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC). It will offer an increased capacity to cope with the growing weight of equipment used by the United States Army and Marine Corps. As of 2015, the program is forecast to cost a total of US$4.054B for 73 hovercraft.
The Solgae-class LCAC, often called Solgae 631 class because of the name of lead ship, is an air-cushioned landing craft (LCAC) designed for the Republic of Korea Navy, by Hanjin Heavy Industries, to operate from ROKS Dokdo and future Dokdo-class amphibious assault ships. This project during development that known as the LSF-II or Landing Ship Fast - II. The craft can carry a maximum load of 55 tons, land on hostile beaches doing 40 knots and it can climb at up to 6 degrees. They have 20 mm cannons for self defense. The crew cockpit carry three crew and a landing-force commander. The LCAC can also carry, in addition to troops, a main battle tank or two amphibious assault vehicles. So far three of these units have been delivered, and more are likely to be ordered. It has been offered for export to foreign navies.
Soviet Navy 