PACSCAT (Partial Air Cushion Supported CATamaran)

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The high speed, all aluminium PACSCAT ISDC vessel is 30m long, 7.7m in the beam, has a design vehicle payload of 55 tonnes and an approximate loaded weight of 175 tonnes. It is propelled by twin waterjets, driven by MTU Diesel engines and is designed to test at full scale the hydrodynamics of the PACSCAT hullform and to investigate its feasibility to deliver significantly faster speeds than traditional landing craft. The vessel makes use of the PACSCAT concept originated by John Lewthwaite of Independent Maritime Assessment Associates Ltd.http://www.qinetiq.com/home/newsroom/news_releases_homepage/2009/4th_quarter/pacscat_launched_10.html
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Yellow Palace said:
It's enough for a BARV, which is the heaviest thing the Royal Marines have planned on landing with for some time.
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Which is an error in their thinking, IMO.

Yes, I know the Royal Marine Commandos are not really Marines like the USMC or their French cousins. But there are situations where having a tank is rather useful.
 
Scott Kenny said:
Which is an error in their thinking, IMO.

Yes, I know the Royal Marine Commandos are not really Marines like the USMC or their French cousins. But there are situations where having a tank is rather useful.
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Tanks used to be provided for, but they dropped out of the 3 Cdo Bde organisation around the time 'Commando 21' came in and they went from envisaging brigade-strength landings back to operating as a raiding force.

The LCM(10) – LCU means something different in the UK and US so I prefer to use the old LCM and LCT – was designed around Challenger 2, and it was still on the cards when LPH(RC) was running circa 2006.
 
Yellow Palace said:
Tanks used to be provided for, but they dropped out of the 3 Cdo Bde organisation around the time 'Commando 21' came in and they went from envisaging brigade-strength landings back to operating as a raiding force.
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Yes, and there's times when even raiders need a big gun.


Yellow Palace said:
The LCM(10) – LCU means something different in the UK and US so I prefer to use the old LCM and LCT – was designed around Challenger 2, and it was still on the cards when LPH(RC) was running circa 2006.
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The LCM10 would be viable.
 
Scott Kenny said:
The LCM10 would be viable.
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There are plenty of pictures proving that it works perfectly well for landing tanks.

PACSCAT was a technology demonstrator with one eye on replacing it with something allowing the assault ship greater standoff whilst keeping within LCM dimensions. The US LCAC and the French EDA-R are considerably bigger craft.
 
Back in the day we did some reinforcement exercises in Norway. Not sure if they ever got that Chieftain back tbh. The RCT ditched their landing craft and one AFAIK, ended up doing the JoG run to Orkney for a while.

We came across the Royal Marines a few times. Also AFAIK, the US Marines ditched their M1's too so they either have none or very few. Think the crews went in to the US Army to finish their tours.
 
Foo Fighter said:
Back in the day we did some reinforcement exercises in Norway. Not sure if they ever got that Chieftain back tbh. The RCT ditched their landing craft and one AFAIK, ended up doing the JoG run to Orkney for a while.

We came across the Royal Marines a few times. Also AFAIK, the US Marines ditched their M1's too so they either have none or very few. Think the crews went in to the US Army to finish their tours.
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The USMC was stuck running much older tanks to stay within the overload rating of the LCACs, the M1A2s were over the overload rating.

We'll see if the tanks come back once the M1E3 gets the starting weight back down to levels that can be transported by LCACs.
 
Scott Kenny said:
The USMC was stuck running much older tanks to stay within the overload rating of the LCACs, the M1A2s were over the overload rating.

We'll see if the tanks come back once the M1E3 gets the starting weight back down to levels that can be transported by LCACs.
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I cannot see any sign of tanks in the US Marine corps orbat. Last I heard was a change of doctrine was involved.
 
Odysseus1980 said:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzr1Hrm9QRY


Video of the PASCAT
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It was on sale for a while in the UK...and has somehow ended up at Salt Spring Island 25 miles from Vancouver on Canada's west coast....

https://www.yachtworld.co.uk/yacht/2009-custom-aluminum-landing-craft-9437703/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/424213994604997/posts/2577806325912409/
But it was stripped of its waterjets before sale....so not sure what they've done with it..

https://www.ramco.co.uk/hubfs/150529 Ramco Newsletter Water Jet.pdf
Interestingly Griffon Hoverworks still have it in their catalogue...

https://www.griffonhoverwork.com/services/marine-solutions/hover-solutions/
 

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