U.S. Navy Adds 74-Ton Hovercraft to Boost U.S. Marine Corps Amphibious Assault Capability.

The U.S. Navy is continuing to replace its aging Landing Craft Air Cushion fleet with a new, roughly $230 million contract modification to add two more Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC) landing hovercraft. Each next-generation craft is designed to carry a 74-ton payload at more than 35 knots, preserving the high-speed ship-to-shore lift needed to move U.S. Marine Corps personnel, vehicles, weapons, and supplies from amphibious ships directly onto beaches and other accessible coastal terrain.

Textron Systems announced the latest award on October 6, 2026, with engineering, manufacturing, quality and testing work centered on its New Orleans shipyard. Contract work is expected to continue through May 2032, extending production of the LCAC 100-class craft as the U.S. Navy progressively replaces legacy hovercraft that have supported amphibious operations since the 1980s.

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The LCAC 100-class Ship-to-Shore Connector is the U.S. Navy’s next-generation amphibious hovercraft, designed to carry U.S. Marine Corps personnel, vehicles and supplies from ships to shore with a 74-ton payload. (Picture source: U.S. DEpartment of War/Defense)

The Ship-to-Shore Connector is the evolutionary successor to the U.S. Navy's Landing Craft Air Cushion, or LCAC. Textron says it has already delivered 18 SSCs, while another 13 are in testing or production. The two newly funded craft add to that replacement pipeline rather than representing an immediate two-craft increase in operational amphibious lift, as new SSCs are being introduced while older LCACs are progressively withdrawn from service.

That distinction is important because the program's immediate purpose is fleet recapitalization. Legacy LCACs have provided the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps with a means of carrying personnel, vehicles, weapons, and logistics loads at high speed from well-deck amphibious ships to shore. The SSC is intended to sustain that mission with greater payload capacity, improved reliability, and a design built for decades of additional service.

The SSC has a rated payload of 74 short tons, compared with about 60 tons for the legacy LCAC under normal operating conditions. Textron lists the hovercraft at approximately 92 feet long and 48 feet wide, with a 67-by-24-foot cargo deck providing about 1,608 square feet of usable area. This allows the craft to transport tactical vehicles, artillery, engineering equipment, and logistics loads while remaining compatible with existing U.S. Navy amphibious ships equipped with well decks.

Higher payload capacity has a direct operational effect because fewer ship-to-shore movements may be required to deliver a given amount of equipment or supplies. Four gas-turbine engines provide propulsion and lift, while Textron lists a speed of 35 knots in Sea State 3 conditions. The combination allows the SSC to move heavy loads rapidly between amphibious ships and landing areas without requiring conventional harbor infrastructure.

As an air-cushion craft, the SSC rides above the surface rather than operating as a conventional displacement landing craft. It can cross shallow water, tidal zones, mud flats, and suitable beaches, allowing amphibious forces to use landing areas inaccessible to many conventional vessels. Textron states that the design can provide access to approximately 80 percent of the world's coastline, a manufacturer figure that illustrates the broad range of coastal conditions the craft is intended for.

The SSC also introduces changes to improve availability and reduce the manpower and maintenance burden of the older generation. Textron lists a four-person operating crew consisting of a pilot, co-pilot, loadmaster and deck engineer, compared with a five-person crew for the legacy LCAC. Integrated flight controls, corrosion-resistant materials and revised propulsion arrangements are intended to improve reliability and reduce maintenance requirements throughout the craft's planned 30-year service life.

Those improvements matter because the effective strength of an amphibious connector fleet depends on how many craft are available when ships deploy, not simply on the total number purchased. Longer intervals between major maintenance periods and improved reliability can help the U.S. Navy maintain sufficient ship-to-shore lift while progressively retiring older LCACs.

The SSC can also transport personnel. Textron says an enclosed troop module enables the hovercraft to carry as many as 145 combat-equipped personnel, giving the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps an additional option for moving forces ashore when the cargo deck is not dedicated primarily to vehicles or supplies.

Compatibility with existing amphibious ships is another central design element. The SSC retains dimensions broadly comparable with those of the LCAC it replaces, allowing it to operate from well decks without requiring an entirely new shipboard handling concept. That continuity enables the U.S. Navy to modernize the connector fleet while continuing to use its existing amphibious warfare ships.

Legacy LCACs remain capable high-speed landing craft, but decades of service have required extensive modernization and service-life extension efforts to keep them operational. The SSC program is designed to move the fleet beyond that cycle by introducing newly built craft with greater payload, modern controls, and improved maintainability rather than relying indefinitely on upgraded hovercraft whose operational history dates back to the Cold War.

For the U.S. Marine Corps, the SSC's importance lies in the link it provides between naval presence offshore and usable combat power ashore. Amphibious ships can carry substantial forces and equipment, but those forces only become operationally relevant on land once connectors can move them across the final stretch of water and coastal terrain. The SSC's combination of payload, speed, and beach access is therefore directly tied to how quickly an amphibious force can establish, reinforce, and sustain forces ashore.

The October 6, 2026, award also extends the industrial workload supporting that capability. Engineering, manufacturing, quality, and testing associated with the two additional craft will continue under the contract through May 2032, providing production continuity as the U.S. Navy transitions between the two generations of landing hovercraft. The pace of that transition matters because retiring legacy LCACs faster than replacement craft arrive could reduce the number of connectors available to amphibious forces.

With 18 SSCs delivered and 13 more in testing or production according to Textron, the replacement effort is well underway but remains incomplete. The latest two-craft award advances that recapitalization by sustaining production of a 74-ton-class landing hovercraft intended to assume an increasing share of U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps ship-to-shore missions as older LCACs leave service.

The SSC's strategic value ultimately comes from its ability to turn amphibious forces positioned offshore into forces that can be deployed and sustained on land. By combining heavy lift, high-speed movement, and access to coastal areas without developed ports, the new hovercraft preserve a critical link in U.S. amphibious warfare while replacing a generation of landing craft in operational use since the 1980s.

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Written by Alain Servaes – Chief Editor, Army Recognition Group
Alain Servaes is a former infantry non-commissioned officer and the founder of Army Recognition. With over 20 years in defense journalism, he provides expert analysis on military equipment, NATO operations, and the global defense industry.