Lol! It is a flat nosed Barge! It will not even cut through ten foot swells! This is an absolute scam for funds, this craft will never take on open seas. Every big wave will be a brick wall and bring it to a stop.
This lives in the well deck of an LHD and delivers stuff to shore. I’m not Navy/Marines and I can see that.
It’s a patrol boat................
BTW we have similar manned hovercraft now. I’ve seen them from Panhandle beaches on maneuvers up and down the shore.
That’s basically what the Deep State and MIC are all about, being a scam for funds.
Every non-ocean going vessel the navy has come up with for 60 years gets related to coastal ops in Florida. Very limited mission capability. We must have a threat/need to develop brown water vessels but I have not heard that threat articulated yet.
Hopefully, there’s more to the hull design than they’re showing here.
Eureka Naval Craft is introducing its suite of high-speed AIRCAT (air cushion catamarans) surface effect ships (SES), already in use with the offshore energy industry, to the defense market.According to Bo Jardine, CEO of Eureka Naval Craft, a newly formed U.S.-based naval defense company, the versatile suite of AIRCAT naval vessels can serve as a patrol craft, rescue craft, medical evacuation vessels, heavily armed small combatants and landing craft.
The AIRCAT SES has both an air cushion, like a hovercraft, and twin hulls like a catamaran.
Source: marinelink.com