Amphibious Combat Vehicle Ramp Interface Modular Buoyant Kit (MBK) for Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) Stern Ramp Navy SBIR FY2015.2 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2015.2 Topic No.: N152-101 Topic Title: Amphibious Combat Vehicle Ramp Interface Modular Buoyant Kit (MBK) for Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) Stern Ramp Proposal No.: N152-101-0137 Firm: Navatek Ltd 841 Bishop Street Suite 1110 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 Contact: James Stusse Phone: (401) 789-1930 Abstract: The Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) is limited in at sea vehicle launch and recovery with the as-built stern ramp to operations in Sea State 1. The United State Marine Corps (USMC) has stated that at-sea launch and recovery of the existing AAV, the ACV 1.1, and potential ACV 1.2 from a high speed shallow draft connector are of significant operational importance. To this end, The USMC has advised the Navy that is necessary to develop a light weight modular buoyant kit (MBK) to allow such operations from the existing JHSV stern ramp. This proposal outlines a concept utilizing several buoyancy providing components, constructed of Barry compliant drop stitch material, strategically placed so that they can handle the required 30 short ton vehicle loads for amphibious vehicle launch and recovery in up to Sea State 3 as well as the static ramp weight. Concurrent with the conceptual design of the MBK, the proposal outlines analysis of this preliminary design using Navatek�s already developed and validated hydro-mechanical modeling tools. Using validated simulation software, the conceptual design(s) will be developed sufficiently to analyze for cost, size, and storability requirements. Benefits: The MBK developed in this proposed statement of work would allow for launch and retrieval of a range of self-propelled amphibious vehicles. Further, buoyant ramp technology would be applicable to similar US Navy and United States Coast Guard (USCG) vessels which require launch and recovery at sea as well as incorporation into US Navy lighterage operations, search and recovery, and small craft recovery. The potential to outfit a broader fleet of existing, ramped Sealift vessels and future sea basing vessels with MBK variants further incentivizes the development of the primary design as well as the tools required for design iterations for ramp variants. The ramp components and simulation tools are of high value to the ship design and operation community. The simulation tools developed specifically for the JHSV MBK are already in development as hydro-mechanical modeling tools for other, similar lighterage and launch and recovery scenarios. Return