Lockheed Martin CHARC

Triton

Donald McKelvy
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Lockheed Martin has a concept for a waterbourne attack vehicle that it calls CHARC for Covert High-speed Attack and Reconnaissance Craft.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/10/lockheeds-swath.html
http://www.gizmag.com/go/3768/
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/1287776.html
http://www.trygstad.org/blog/archives/week_2004_03_14.html
 

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Orionblamblam said:
CHARC has been around since at least 2004. An interesting, if kinda goofy, notion, to me it seems the biggest problem is where they put the gun: on the underside. Dumb.

I removed the word "new" from my original post since I found out from research that information about the vehicle has been public since 2004. Perhaps five years isn't that much time for a weapon system.

It looks like Lockheed Martin wants to build the water-based equivalent of the attack helicopter. It could patrol ports and/or operate in the littorals. The perfect companion to the Independence or Freedom class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). :p Don't know if there is really a good place on the vehicle to place the weapons systems. The gun would be immersed in water at idle and it probably would get wet from sea spray at high speeds. Hopefully, all the gun's vital systems are water tight.

It's supposed to have a low IR and radar signature, the Navy has to have stealth! In covert ops missions it can carry half a SEAL platoon.

I don't know if I agree with you that it's dumb. I just wonder if less expensive platforms could do the same job.
 
Triton said:
Don't know if there is really a good place on the vehicle to place the weapons systems.

As with most watercraft.... "topside" is a good choice.

It's bad enough when science fiction armored non-flying vehicles put their weapons on the underside; it's sad to see it in reality. Put the gun on top and the CHARC can in principle lay a beatdown on anything fore, aft, laterally or above, with blind spots near the hull. Put the gun on the underside, and it can shoot things forward and a bit laterally. It can, I suppose, blow the crap out of any goldfish that get too close.
 
Orionblamblam said:
Triton said:
Don't know if there is really a good place on the vehicle to place the weapons systems.

As with most watercraft.... "topside" is a good choice.

It's bad enough when science fiction armored non-flying vehicles put their weapons on the underside; it's sad to see it in reality. Put the gun on top and the CHARC can in principle lay a beatdown on anything fore, aft, laterally or above, with blind spots near the hull. Put the gun on the underside, and it can shoot things forward and a bit laterally. It can, I suppose, blow the crap out of any goldfish that get too close.

I was thinking of the water immersion problem of having a chin-mounted gun versus salt water spray that a top mounted gun would receive from a vehicle traveling at 60 knots. I was not thinking of the line of fire for the 20 mm cannon. I wonder if it even dawned on the designers at Lockheed Martin to mount the 20 mm cannon on top of the vehicle? Though combat helicopters attack facing their targets and perhaps they reasoned that the vehicle would only engage targets it was facing?
 
I'm sure there are a host of failure modes associated with the articulated float pylons too.
 
I just want to know what kind of advantage does Lockheed think this has over a more conventional hull form, especially since we can make very small, stealthy conventional hull boats.
 
Just call me Ray said:
I just want to know what kind of advantage does Lockheed think this has over a more conventional hull form, especially since we can make very small, stealthy conventional hull boats.

It could be that conventional hull forms with proven, but not very exciting technologies, just aren't sexy enough to generate sufficient interest from the United States Navy. The US Navy already has the Mk V Special Operations Craft. It seems that new weapons systems have to have stealth characteristics and incorporate sexy new technologies to be purchased. I don't think that we should underestimate the "kewl" factor when it comes to new weapon system procurement.
 
It looks like some G.I. Joe toy I might have had as kid long ago.

"And knowing is half the battle! Yo Joe!"
 
XP67_Moonbat said:
It looks like some G.I. Joe toy I might have had as kid long ago.

"And knowing is half the battle! Yo Joe!"

Amen to that. But look on the bright side, at least we know it'll definitely have an ejection seat!
 
Two Lockheed's CHARC patents found well ago by Sharon Weinberger from Wired's Danger Room
http://www.google.com/patents?id=SD2pAAAAEBAJ
http://www.google.com/patents?id=BgSAAAAAEBAJ
 

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