Ship-to-Shore Connector

The Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC) is a system proposed by the US Navy as a replacement for the Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC). It will offer increased capacity, to cope with the growing weight of equipment used by the army and Marines. , the program is forecast to cost a total of US$4,068,000,000 for 73 hovercraft.

History
Several proposals have been made to replace the LCAC. In 2003, the Navy Transformation Roadmap set out plans to start R&D on a "Heavy Lift LCAC" project in 2005, but this was superseded by the LCAC(X) "LCAC Replacement Tactical Assault Connector". In August 2010, the US Navy issued a Request For Proposals for a contract to design and build 72 SSCs. The contract would be worth up to US$4 billion. A contract for detailed design work, and construction of the first test and training craft, was expected to be awarded in 2011.

Proposals

 * A team comprising Marinette Marine, Boeing, and Griffon Hoverwork
 * A team comprising Textron Marine & Land Systems, Alcoa Defense, and L-3 Communications
 * VT Halter

On July 6, 2012, the US Navy awarded Textron, Inc of New Orleans, LA a $212,722,820 fixed-priced incentive-fee contract for the detail design and construction of a Ship-to-Shore Connector test and training craft. The contract also includes the option for the production of eight additional craft; this option would increase total value of the contract to $570,451,044.

Design
Although the design will be broadly similar to the LCAC, there will be several significant differences:
 * Two-person fly-by-wire cockpit
 * More powerful, more efficient engines
 * Extensive use of composites and aluminum

The four MT7 gas turbines that will be used to power each Ship-to-Shore Connector are a derived design of the Rolls-Royce T406 used in the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey. The cores of the two engines types are identical, which should provide some relief in spare parts storage to those ships that will operate both the aircraft and the hovercraft.

The SSC has a designed lifetime of 30 years.