Vericor Power Systems has been awarded a contract to deliver the next tranche of marine gas turbines for the US Navy's LCAC Service Life Extension Program. Under this program, the US Navy is upgrading about 70 of the existing LCACs with a variety of improvements to enhance performance and allow the craft to operate well into a 30 + year life. Vericor will deliver 34 engines and related hardware under the new contract.
Ben Mahr, President and CEO of Vericor said "We are very proud to be of continuing service to the US Navy and especially in this unique and challenging application. The LCAC is a true test of a marine gas turbine and the ETF40B engines perform day in and day out for the US Navy."
Vericor traces its involvement with the Navy's air cushion vehicle program to the Navy's original Amphibious Assault Landing Craft test vehicles in the 1970s. The Navy has relied on the TF Series of marine gas turbines from Vericor and its predecessor company, Textron Lycoming for over forty years. TF40B and ETF40B engines are also used by both the Japanese Naval Defense Forces' and the Republic of Korea Navy's versions of LCAC making it the unquestioned engine of choice for this demanding application.
Vericor works closely with the US Navy to ensure that the engine continues to meet the demanding fleet expectations for operational availability as the fleet transitions from the TF40B to the newer engine.