continuum of 24 months. That’s how we calculate how many boats we need.” Another CCM category craft just beginning deliveries is the Combatant Craft Assault (CCA). Carlson characterized it as “another non-developmental item; a government off-the-shelf boat that we didn’t put any development money into.” “But it was the right boat,” he continued. “At only 40 feet, it’s smaller than the CCM MK I, so it can go on and off a Navy ship, making it more expeditionary than the MK I. You can’t just crane a MK I on and off an ‘amphib.’ But you can with a CCA.” The CCA mono-hull design is slightly larger than the current 11-meter NSW rigid-hull inflatable boat (RIB) and is credited with slightly greater capabilities. NSW plans call
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for divestiture of some of its NSW RIB inventory to obtain the crews to man the CCAs. “But we’re never going to get rid of the RIB entirely,” he asserted. “We think it’s the right boat. It’s a workhorse in a lot of situations all around the world in different threat scenarios. And it’s been very successful.” From a current total of 60 RIBs, projections show divestiture rates down to a fleet of 40 RIBs in FY 19, with proposed parallel divestiture of the supporting Maritime Craft Aerial Delivery System (MCADS). Depending on NSW abilities to purchase additional CCM platforms, potential longer-range RIB reductions could drop that fleet element even further – to 28 craft in FY 21 and 20 RIBs in FY 22 – although those longer-term RIB reduction plans remain tentative at this time. The Combatant Craft Riverine (CCR) category of surface mobility assets encompasses the 33-foot Special Operations Craft-Riverine (SOC-R) from United States Marine Inc. All 24 SOC-R platforms are currently based out of Special Boat Team 22 at Stennis Space Center, Miss. However, the NSW community is on a planned pathway to reduce its SOC-R capacity also and divert that manpower “to do other things.”
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jayme Pastoric
A Special Operations Craft-Riverine (SOC-R) performs a crashback maneuver during training along the Salt River in northern Kentucky. Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen (SWCC) attached to Special Boat Team 22 (SBT-22) based at Stennis Space Center, Miss., employ the SOC-R, a craft designed for the clandestine insertion and extraction of U.S. Navy SEALs and other special operations forces along shallow waterways and open water environments.