USMC hoping to speed up beaching time for experimental landing vessel

A Tactical Resupply Vehicle-150 takes off from a Stern Landing Vessel to conduct a ship-to-ship experimentation as part of Project Convergence Capstone 4. (US Army 24th Theater Public Affairs Support)

The US Marine Corps' (USMC's) experimental Stern Landing Vessel (SLV) made an impact at one of its first joint experiments as one of three support vessels participating in the 2024 Project Convergence Capstone 4 event.

The vessel is meant as a bridging solution to get a better understanding of what the USMC wants for the US Navy's Landing Ship Medium (LSM), Lieutenant General Karsten Heckl, commanding general of the USMC Combat Development Command, told reporters on 5 March. As part of its first experiment, the USMC has learnt it wants to iron out some wrinkles in operations such as the time it takes to lower the ramp onto the beach, which currently takes about 25 minutes, Lieutenant Colonel Tim Smith, science and technology logistics combat element branch head at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL), told reporters.

“We're using these vessels as part of our littoral manoeuvre bridging solution, so we have the capacity for littoral movement for things like sustainment,” Lt Gen Heckl said during a briefing for Project Convergence at Camp Pendleton, California.

The offshore support vessel was leased from Hornbeck Offshore Services and modified with a large landing ramp and spuds to lower and stabilise the boat in the surf zone to create the SLV capability that the USMC wanted to experiment with.