When you think of military hovercraft, typically what comes to mind are the U.S. Navy’s 100-ton LCAC (Landing Craft Air Cushion) and the new generation of SSCs (Ship-to-Shore Connectors). But light hovercraft, such as the Neoteric Military HoverTrek™, are gaining increasing global recognition as an essential vehicle for military operations.
Watch Neoteric’s military light hovercraft in action below. This particular craft, operated by Hovercraft Training Centers, was engineered as a potential training apparatus for LCAC pilots and navigators …
Neoteric Hovercraft in Viet Nam:
Last year the Viet Nam military purchased two Neoteric hovercraft to be used by their Ministry of National Defense, which coordinates both military and civil forces in disaster relief and search and rescue operations. The craft were quickly recognized as crucial equipment for the Viet Nam People’s Army, and they recently purchased two additional 6-passenger models.
Steve Stafford, Neoteric’s Law Enforcement Liaison and HTC’s Flight Instructor, recently trained additional military personnel on Suoi Hai Lake at the Army’s Emergency Response Training Facility near Hanoi. The training captured the interest of first responders from a fire department near Ho Chi Minh City, who flew in to observe, and Stafford gave them a demo flight …
Neoteric Hovercraft in Pakistan:
Two
Neoteric military hovercraft are used by the Pakistan Air Force for rescue operations. Pakistan
and surrounding nations rely heavily on the PAF for tsunami, cyclone, earthquake
and flood rescue and relief operations ...
Neoteric Hovercraft in Kuwait:
Neoteric
hovercraft were used on Kuwait's intertidal zone to survey the environmental
damage inflicted by the 1991 Persian Gulf War oil fires. The hovercraft were
the only vehicles capable of operating on the thick mud ...
Neoteric Hovercraft in South Korea:
In South
Korea, the Neoteric hovercraft was introduced to U.S. and South Korean Generals during a
joint military exercise. The craft was also used to demonstrate the
concept and feasibility for dragging plastic fuel pipeline over tidal mudflats
…
Neoteric Hovercraft in the United States:
Tetra Tech,
a California-based global firm, conducts unexploded ordnance detection and
remediation for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and commercial
clients. This year, their custom Neoteric HoverTrek™ was used in an MEC/UXO
remedial investigation at a Defense Environmental
Restoration Program (DERP) for Formerly Used Defense sites (FUDS) area in the
Caribbean. The site was an impact range for aerial bombs and rockets, missiles,
mortars and naval projectiles from 1903 until 1975.
The site consists of shallow water with listed and protected coral reefs inches below the surface; the hovercraft was the only vehicle that could conduct the project without damaging the corals ...
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| Read more about the Tetra Tech project ... |
The Utah
Test and Training Range at Hill Air Force base operates two Neoteric military
hovercraft. In 2006, one of the craft rescued a downed F-16 pilot who crashed
on the Great Salt Lake mudflats, where no other vehicle could travel. Prior
to their hovercraft purchase, when the Range used ATVs and trucks, emergency
response times could reach more than three hours. With their Neoteric
hovercraft, they can reach victims in minutes ...
The Future of Neoteric Military Hovercraft:
Neoteric and Hovercraft Training Centers are currently investigating the possibility of the U.S. Navy using Neoteric military hovercraft for initial flight training for LCAC and SSC pilots and navigators. The
untrained eye might not recognize much similarity between light hovercraft and the Navy’s $22 million
behemoths that transport 180 Marines along with weapon systems and heavy cargo
directly from ship to shore. But these two vehicles share a significant trait:
they operate by the same basic principles, just as a 2-seat Cessna flies by the
same rules as a Boeing 747.
As a first step in this investigation, Neoteric President Chris Fitzgerald was invited to Assault Craft Unit 4 in Virginia Beach to review the Navy's training protocol for LCAC crews. While there, he had the opportunity to pilot a 100-ton LCAC on the Atlantic Ocean without any previous training - which verified his premise that the skills acquired in flying light Neoteric hovercraft are easily transferred to flying heavy military hovercraft ...
The Navy's current LCAC training program is quite costly and has high attrition rates. Approximately $200,000 is spent on each trainee and dropout rates are as high as 65%. Should the Navy decide to use Neoteric hovercraft for initial LCAC training, it would not only vastly decrease costs, it would also decrease attrition by serving as an inexpensive way to qualify future LCAC craftmasters. And, since light hovercraft so easily capture public attention, they would serve as an excellent public relations tool to boost the success of the Navy's recruiting efforts.
As the world's military forces grow to realize the value and versatility of the Neoteric HoverTrek™ as their new secret weapon, expect to see more of them deployed every year!
Take a Test Flight or Training Course on a Neoteric Military Hovercraft ...
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