Adaptive Hull Structure

The single biggest technical challenge in developing an amphibious vehicle with the required speed and range is this: the hull shape required for an effective land-mobile armored fighting vehicle produces too much hydrodynamic drag and too little buoyancy to achieve the speed and endurance required to support an over-the-horizon amphibious assault. However, innovative adaptive hull devices comprised of lightweight, relatively simple inflatable structures can overcome these shortcomings while avoiding the mechanical complexity that plagued the canceled EFV program. New engineered textiles make it possible to create inflatable adaptive hull shapes to provide additional buoyancy, as well as to reduce drag through improved hydrodynamic performance. Using drop-stitch fabric to create stiff inflatable panels, it is possible to develop compact modular systems to attach, deploy, retract, and stow inflatable components that will yield improved hydrodynamic performance. These components could be used on the next generation Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV 2.0), or adapted for use with existing AAVs, or as an enhancement to the ACV 1.1 currently in development. We propose to use buoyant panels attached to the parent vehicle hull to improve vehicle performance at sea, increasing hydrodynamic lift and decreasing resistance to achieve the target speed of 25 knots.