18.07.2022, 12:10
Zitat:USSOCOM Update On MC-130J Amphibious Capability Or ‘MAC’https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/202...ty-or-mac/
At the U.S. Special Operations Forces Industry Conference 2022 (SOFIC 2022), held in-person for the first time (and also virtually) since the COVID-19 pandemic, USSOCOM Program Executive Office Fixed Wing (PEO FW) offered additional insight as to the progress of the Special Operations Command’s quest for an amphibious C-130J seaplane for greater mobility, flexibility, and survivability in the INDO-PACOM region. [...]
“In terms of amphibious MC-130 demonstration, USSOCOM is actually going through some market research, currently, to see if we can identify any potential amphibious capacities to meet some of the SOF Requirements that are existing. And currently AFSOC is also doing an experimental demonstration where they are planning on putting some float assemblies on a C-130 platform. They use digital engineering as a major factor of reducing some of that risk and making some of those changes, and they have gone through some hydrotesting and some aero testing on a subscale factor.” (Rich Rodriguez, USSOCOM’s Tech Director in Emerging Technologies) [...]
Unclear is how USSOCOM will load and unload cargo from a MC-130J’s fuselage resting high up on floating pontoons as the rear cargo ramp might be so high that the steep angle of the rear ramp might prevent true drive-on/drive-off of watercraft and boats such as RHIBs, jetskis, amphibious vehicles, and Combat Rubber Raiding Crafts (CRRCs). The U.S. Army’s secretive and elite Task Force-160’s MH-47s often sit in the water and deploy their rear cargo ramps for rapid CRRC exfiltration and infiltration where the CRRC can literally drive right up and into the flooded interior of the MH-47. However, the amphibious MC-130J will be sitting on pontoons so this “wet duck CRRC extraction” method might not be feasible if the pontoons cannot ballast to lower the C-130’s fuselage and ramp closer to the water’s surface, or if the MC-130J’s interior is allowed to be floodable.
Schneemann