Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) 57 is back in operations with Assault Craft Unit FIVE at Camp Pendleton after delivering early from its Fleet Modernization Program maintenance availability that lasted nearly four months.
The completion marked the fourth LCAC availability conducted by Southwest Regional Maintenance Center (SWRMC) in 2020, with all four availabilities delivering either on-time or early.
“Great work by the team to support the operational needs of the Assault Craft Units at Camp Pendleton,” said Capt. David Hart, SWRMC’s commanding officer. “At SWRMC, we strive to be an organization the Navy can depend on. And this year, our LCAC team has proven just that!”
LCACs are a class of air-cushion vehicles used for transporting personnel, weapons, equipment, and cargo of the assault elements of the Navy’s Assault Craft Units both from ship-to-shore and across the beach. Since 1984, 91 LCACs have been delivered to the Navy, many of which have since undergone Service Life Extension Availabilities to add service life and enhance operational readiness.
The recent availability on LCAC 57 involved repair work which included replacement of aluminum plating, crush box, wet deck hatting and completing clad welds all key to sustaining this LCAC. Additionally, craft alterations, upgrades, and refurbishments were executed to include installation of torque meters for the ETF40B gas turbine engines as well as extensive rotating machinery refurbishments, all of which actively contributed to improving and upgrading this versatile platform.
The LCAC Program is overseen by the Program Executive Office, Ships and executed in close collaboration with the crew and maintenance team members from SWRMC, the Intermediate Maintenance Activity, the Port Engineer, Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City, and Walashek Marine.
“Every team member has a vested interest in the overall success of the LCAC program,” said D.J. Brandt, SWRMC’s LCAC Program Manager. “With effective, clear communication, we, as a team, knew the direction needed to complete high quality, on-time deliveries. Combine that with our shared hundreds of years of LCAC background knowledge, we were able to complete four successful availabilities this year.”
This availability was another example of strong teaming enabling delivery of a much-needed asset back to the Fleet to perform and complete required training and operational tasking.
SWRMC is meeting its mission to provide superior ship maintenance, modernization, technical support, and training for the Pacific Fleet.
For more information on SWRMC, please visit https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/RMC/SWRMC.