Navy Panama City: LCAC parts depot

PANAMA CITY, Fla. - Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City has become a Landing Craft Air Cushion hovercraft parts depot, according to military officials. LCACs were designed for a 20-year service life. That timeline is quickly approaching. LCACs were delivered to the Navy from 1998-2001, according to Glenn Campbell, project lead engineer at NSWCPC. The next generation of LCACs is expected by the fall of 2017. In the mid-2000s, the Navy began a Service Life Extension Program in Panama City to increase the lives of LCACs by 10 years. The program includes upgraded engines, hull repairs, addition of larger fuel tanks, and addressing aging propulsion equipment, according to NSWCPC, the LCAC in-service engineering agent. The repair work is expected to save the Navy hundreds of thousands of dollars in operating costs. Some 18 engineers and technicians are involved in the process at the Panama City base, says air cushion vehicle branch head Ivan Lugo. The teams modifying the fleet are mostly made up of a tight-knit family of military veterans who know what LCACs mean to the fleet, says Campbell. LCACs haul Marine Corps equipment, and are the connector for the amphibious ships. (Source: Panama City News Herald 06/29/16)