A few months ago I came across a few unusual landing craft proposals that I decided to draw. I've been working on them on and off since then and have decided it's about time to finally post them to the forum:
![[ img ]](https://i.imgur.com/M2Msp7q.png)
The first is the LCU-F
(Landing Craft Utility - Folding)
A long slender design for high speed that folds up neatly to fit within an amphibious ship. It is equipped with fold-able outriggers to provide extra stability while the bow/stern unfold. It's also armed with the gun off a Cobra and a stinger missile launcher. The authors believe it will have space for landing multiple helicopters, up to an AH-1 on the stern and an OH-6 above the bridge, a claim I find highly skeptical.
More info here
The Transformation Craft or "T-Craft" were a a number of US Navy ideas to develop a landing craft which could change configuration. There were several proposals created under the name, most were hybrid hovercraft/catamarans, there was one comparable to the French EDA-R and another was a tracked vehicle that led to the Ultra Heavy-Lift Amphibious Connector tested at RIMPAC 2014.
This particular one comes from Interns at NSWC Caderock. I'm not fully sure what they feed their interns at Caderock but it's very potent and I wish I could get some for my interns. The ship consists of a SWATH hull with the Underwater portions of the hull able to rotate out to reduce draft. In order to land on the beach, an air cushion is deployed and the hulls rotate fully clear of the water. In addition tracks (Derived from an M1 Abram's running gear) deploy from the bottom to propel it up onto the beach.
![[ img ]](https://i.imgur.com/1Nx6yyr.png)
As an extra here is another NSWC Caderock Intern project. A 21st century version of the DUKW. An optionally manned tracked catamaran designed to ferry a 20ft ISO container from ship to shore. It could probably work for this role but is unlikely to be capable of anything else. It's not on the template as I believe it counts as a component due to being a small craft.
![[ img ]](https://i.imgur.com/UErKyxS.png)
