Navy's Secretive Fleet Of Stealthy Special Operations Boats Set To Evolve
© Vigor Industrial
The U.S. Navy just recently awarded a contract for the production of the fourth Combatant Craft Heavy (CCH). This is part of a larger plan to modernize the fleet of CCHs, also known as Sealions, which are the biggest and most secretive of the service's three tiers of stealthy special operations boats. Testing is also now underway on a pop-up eight-round loitering munition launcher for the middle-weight Combatant Craft Mediums (CCM).
Navy Cdr. Marty Burns, the program manager for surface systems within U.S. Special Operations Command's (SOCOM) larger Program Executive Office for Maritime systems (PEO-M), provided details about the CCH fleet and the loitering munition launcher for the CCM to The War Zone and other attendees at the annual SOF Week conference on Tuesday. Beyond the CCH and CCM, the current U.S. special operations boat fleets include the Combatant Craft Assault (CCA), the smallest of the stealthy types, and the non-stealthy Special Operations Riverine Craft (SOCR). The Navy has other patrol and riverine-style combat boats in service outside of the Naval Special Warfare community, though the size of those fleets has been shrinking in recent years.
The second of the three CCHs now in Navy service. Vigor Industrial
"We just put [CCH] number four on contract" in "late April to Fincantieri," Burns said. Under that contract, "they have an option for craft five," as well.
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