Marines Test New Beach Assault Vehicle

(CNN) -- Call it part tank, part boat and part beer cooler. But it's unquestionably all cool.

It's a new U.S. Marine Corps vehicle for getting stuff like troops, tanks and trucks from ships to shore and back.

The Corps showed off a prototype of its Ultra Heavy-lift Amphibious Connector (UHAC) last week during Rim of the Pacific exercises in Hawaii, running it from the Navy's amphibious dock landing ship USS Rushmore to the beaches of Marine Corps Training Area Bellows on Oahu.

Source


This photo is a half-size prototype of the proposed Party-Barge the Corps is developing... Still this mini sporty junior version still weighs in at 38 tons.

"The full-scale model should be able to carry at least three tanks and a HMMVW (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle)," Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Perera, the Warfighting Lab's Infantry Weapons Project officer, said in a statement. That's about three times the load that the Corps' current craft assigned to the task, called a Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), can handle.

they went on to say while this prototype could only go 5 mph on the water a full-size UHAC should do 25 mph (22) knots. That’s about half the speed of the Navy’s hovercraft yet able to carry three times the load.

The photo above gives the best sense of scale to this beast... remember too this is only the half-size version... the final model will be twice as big and without the elevated pilot house to give it a lower profile in the water.

Looks cool, and the carrying capacity makes it seem like its gonna enormous. I like the fact the driving tower will be lowered. But they definitely need to speed it up or else it will be one big sitting duck out there. I personally would be prefer the less is more route. Smaller faster vehicles. Granted it wouldn't be able to carry as much but can be faster. Nice post though. Its always cool to see what their coming up with!

a reply to: JoeSaintsky

In todays Marine Corps it doesn't need to be fast...
Manned beach assaults are a thing of the past...


Nowadays they will secure a beachhead with Tactical Unmanned Ground Vehicles




Tiny true but totally badass and more than capable of taking and holding a landing site long enough for one of these big beasties of off load boots and equipment...

Naw--- it doesn't need to fast--- not in todays modern battlefield

So cool! It reminds me of one of the contraptions that the Artists of the old Popeye cartoons would dream up. In an old time Bluto voice; " Come on BOYS! Bullets and BEERS! Served right up." And then some unintelligible heh heh's, I'll show em. Wait'll they see these. Arghhgrmllll.

a reply to: Spader

I don't know about you... But if I was standing on a beach
and see one these big boys coming right at me...

I'm going to go find someplace else to be--- least I get squished like a bug.

originally posted by: HardCorps
a reply to: Spader

I don't know about you... But if I was standing on a beach
and see one these big boys coming right at me...

I'm going to go find someplace else to be--- least I get squished like a bug.

Exactly! It is a moving, armored house, fridge, weapons carrier-ammo dump. You could form up some troops behind one of those. Kinda reminds me of WW1 tactics, (follow the indestructible thing)

originally posted by: HardCorps
a reply to: JoeSaintsky

I forget which one that is but if I remember correctly it is a hybrid. Someone brought up a good point in a article I was reading about them though. They have to be accompanied by a soldier on the ground or else paint spray/bombs would render the optics useless until they are cleaned which means a kid with a can of spray paint could ruin a beach landing.