Air-Droppable At-Sea In-Water Lifting System

An innovative system called In-Water Container Lifting System (IWCLS) is proposed for lifting ISO shipping containers floating in the open ocean to the decks of Advanced Force Sea-Basings and other vessels of opportunity. It fills a gap in enabling technology for lift-on/lift-off heavy container transfer in high sea conditions up to sea state 4. The IWCLS is essentially a telescopic ramp based container launching and recovery system. The system is very compact and can be fit into an ISO twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) container. It meets all the US heavy-lift aircraft transport and airdrop parameters. The system is highly automated and can self-erect with support from a very minimal number of personnel and two small crafts. It carries its own power source that it can self-erect and then lift at least four containers. The telescopic ramp can accommodate vessels with different freeboard up to at least 10 meter.