T-Craft

The image in this pdf looks like a full scale mock-up or some clever photoshop of the model made to look full sized. Construction according to the article is not to start until the middle of 2010.

Opinions, comments?
http://www.onr.navy.mil/conferences...ttle in the Littorals/Transformable Craft.pdf

 

LOL..I wondered if that one would get out. John (the Umoe PM) showed up at the pre-test review with that cool RC tank and we played around with it in the conference room..the gun even made shooting noises by RC.

That photo shot was made while the Marintek test techs had the basin floor raised to 'dry position' to get ready for the amphibious-mode model test series. John outdid himself in getting what turned out to be a very realistic photo shot..I have the originals.

 

Cool, I thought I was seeing things.

There was a photo a newspaper took of the Atlas RC Hovercraft model in front of the shop, the only thing which gave it away was a clump of grass growing out of a crack in the asphalt.


July 15, 2008
ONR Looking To Demo At-Sea Cargo Transfer Using T-Craft Scale Model
http://www.defensedaily.com/sectors/navy_usmc/3294.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jun 20, 2008
General Atomics Designing Hybrid Drive for High Speed Vessel
http://www.ga.com/news.php?read=1&id=155&page=1

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
http://www.defenselink.mil/contracts/contr...contractid=3767

 

UPDATE: 02/20/2010

PDF
http://www.foils.org/01_Mtg_Pres dnloads/090430 Meeting/SD-5 Panel T-Craft Brief 30Apr09 FinalA.pdf

Interesting images on pages 10, 11 and 44.

 

Yep...things are moving along. The June decision point for building a full-scale T-craft demonstrator fast approaches...

 

How's that 1,000 foot long SES project going?

 

Slowly. The testing of the 57' RC model went very well but was very short..ran out of time and funding. Hopefully a new round of testing will be funded and we can get the model out on the water again late this year or early next.

 

I was not expecting that, but it makes sense (segmented body).

Is "sea caterpillar" the most popular nickname for the craft?

 

Sea Train. Standard off the shelf ATB connecting technology between cars (in the full scale version..the model had strain-instrumented connecting pins).

That's a big model. For a better perspective of how big:

 

Very cool, train makes sense because the sections are like cars. Then again caterpillars turn into butterflies which fly.

Thank you for posting the images BMcF.

I'm doing a copy & paste over to the hoverclubofamerica.org

Cheers, George/kach22i

 

train

I never saw that arrangement coming! make a great instant dock almost anywhere so I see the attraction.

 

Neat looking SES model, how much work to make it into a transformable craft?
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/skyex/20050112

 

UPDATE: 08/12/2010 ................ Tcraft

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blog...79a7Post:6d5279d8-a208-49ee-9047-f38665cdb571

 

Ahh yes...it was an interesting four years of design and model testing. Alas..it's all over. The Navy has completely pulled the plug on the effort and there will not be..for now anyway..a T-Craft built. All three teams have been debriefed and the project is closed.

The Umoe hull design was 100% composite and a section of that hull, in full scale and very similar in size to the aluminum example shown in last pic, is being completed by VT-Halter in Mississippi. For naught, at least as far as T-Craft is concerned, but perhaps a useful (in future) transfer of large-scale composite hull technology from overseas to a US shipyard?

 

Is the whole Sea-Basing concept dead, or just this part?

I'm so bummed out.

This project would have cost a fraction of the Wall Street bailout.