A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and various other surfaces.
The Wasp-class is a class of landing helicopter dock (LHD) amphibious assault ships operated by the United States Navy. Based on the Tarawa class, with modifications to operate more advanced aircraft and landing craft, the Wasp-class is capable of transporting almost the full strength of a United States Marine Corps Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), and landing them in hostile territory via landing craft or helicopters as well as providing air support via AV-8B Harrier II attack aircraft or F-35B Lightning II stealth strike-fighters. All Wasp-class ships were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding, at Pascagoula, Mississippi, with the lead ship, USS Wasp, commissioned on 29 July 1989. Eight Wasp-class ships were built, and as of April 2021, seven are in active service, as USS Bonhomme Richard was seriously damaged by fire on 12 July 2020, and subsequently decommissioned in April 2021.
The Finnish Navy is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. The navy employs 2,300 people and about 4,300 conscripts are trained each year. Finnish Navy vessels are given the ship prefix "FNS", short for "Finnish Navy ship", but this is not used in Finnish-language contexts. The Finnish Navy also includes coastal forces and coastal artillery.
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-cushioned landing craft (hovercraft) used by the United States Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). They transport weapons systems, equipment, cargo and personnel from ship to shore and across the beach. It is to be replaced in US service by the Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC).
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 ("off-cushion" or "hull borne"), 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) and amphibious assault ships operated by the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN). It was designed and built by Hanjin Heavy Industries (HHIC) to enhance South Korea's amphibious operation capability in terms of assault and military operations other than war (MOOTW).
The Bora-class, Soviet designation Project 1239, 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. 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, Soviet designation Project 1232.2, is a class of Soviet-designed air-cushioned landing craft (LCAC). The name "Zubr" is Russian for the European bison. This class of military hovercraft is, as of 2023 the world's largest hovercraft, 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.
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 Gus-class LCAC code Project 1205 Skat was a medium-sized assault hovercraft operated by the Soviet Navy from 1969 until the early 1990s.
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 Czilim-class ACV is a small patrol hovercraft operated by the Border Service of the FSB 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 and four Ondatra-class landing craft or 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 Ondatra class Soviet designation Project 1176 Akula ("shark") is a class of landing craft built for the Soviet Navy and Russian Navy between 1971 and 2009.
The Solgae-class LCAC, often called Solgae 631 class after the name of lead ship, is an air-cushioned landing craft (LCAC) designed for the Republic of Korea Navy. Built by Hanjin Heavy Industries, they're designed to operate from the ROKS Dokdo and the future Dokdo-class amphibious assault ships. This project was known as the LSF-II or Landing Ship Fast - II during development.
