An amphibious air cushion vehicle includes an air cushion supported hull configured for travel on water and smooth land; a deck supported by the hull; and a dual-rail cargo system having tracks arranged longitudinally on along the hull cargo deck from an aft end. The tracks include (1) guide rails and rollers providing for guided sliding movement of palletized cargo along the tracks, and (2) locks for locking pallets in position during transport, The track is configured at the aft end for an unloading operation in which the locks are disengaged and the palletized cargo slides off the aft end onto underlying land as the vehicle is moving forward thereon. The track may be the one track of a single-track variant, or one of a pair of tracks in a two-track variant.

An amphibious air cushion vehicle includes an air cushion supported hull configured for travel on water and smooth land; a deck supported by the hull; and a dual-rail cargo system having tracks arranged longitudinally on along the hull cargo deck from an aft end. The tracks include (1) guide rails and rollers providing for guided sliding movement of palletized cargo along the tracks, and (2) locks for locking pallets in position during transport, The track is configured at the aft end for an unloading operation in which the locks are disengaged and the palletized cargo slides off the aft end onto underlying land as the vehicle is moving forward thereon. The track may be the one track of a single-track variant, or one of a pair of tracks in a two-track variant.

A vehicle is provided for drone stowage and transport as a means to extend the range of smaller drones and unmanned underwater vehicles. The transport vehicle is launched from a mother ship and provides for moving drones and underwater unmanned vehicles to desired launch and recovery points. The vehicle is based on current hovercraft vehicles and is adapted for stowage of drones while remaining compatible with existing mother ships. The vehicle includes foldable deck sections, which can be extended to provide launching and landing runways for flying drones. Lifts and ramps are incorporated for loading, launching and recovering flying drones, floating drone vessels and underwater unmanned vehicle drones.

A vehicle is provided for drone stowage and transport as a means to extend the range of smaller drones and unmanned underwater vehicles. The transport vehicle is launched from a mother ship and provides for moving drones and underwater unmanned vehicles to desired launch and recovery points. The vehicle is based on current hovercraft vehicles and is adapted for stowage of drones while remaining compatible with existing mother ships. The vehicle includes foldable deck sections, which can be extended to provide launching and landing runways for flying drones. Lifts and ramps are incorporated for loading, launching and recovering flying drones, floating drone vessels and underwater unmanned vehicle drones.

The invention concerns an amphibious transformer vehicle (ATV) having flexible pontoon-skegs and a flexible frame allowing the ATV which carries passenger or cargo to smoothly transition between varying types of terrain and handle waves and uneven terrain. This vehicle is designed to move over water, snow, ice, ground, sand and other loose surfaces, as well as paved and other hard services as well as grass and light vegetation. It can make transitions between all the surfaces without need to stop or perform any modifications to the vehicle to transition between surfaces. This vehicle has advantages over other hovercraft and airboats that are designed with rigid frames and hulls. Based on a design using a flexible frame and structures that lean on flexible pontoon-skegs it can handle waves and obstacles without being damaged and it is not upset by a wide range of variations in terrain.

The invention concerns an amphibious transformer vehicle (ATV) having flexible pontoon-skegs and a flexible frame allowing the ATV which carries passenger or cargo to smoothly transition between varying types of terrain and handle waves and uneven terrain. This vehicle is designed to move over water, snow, ice, ground, sand and other loose surfaces, as well as paved and other hard services as well as grass and light vegetation. It can make transitions between all the surfaces without need to stop or perform any modifications to the vehicle to transition between surfaces. This vehicle has advantages over other hovercraft and airboats that are designed with rigid frames and hulls. Based on a design using a flexible frame and structures that lean on flexible pontoon-skegs it can handle waves and obstacles without being damaged and it is not upset by a wide range of variations in terrain.

An air cushioned landing system for an air vehicle comprises an inflatable and deflatable skirt (113) in the form of a tube having inner (101) and outer (100) walls. The inner wall defines a central plenum (116) within the skirt, the skirt including gas pockets (130) arranged to stiffen one or more regions of at least one of the inner (101) and outer (100) sidewalls during deflation of the skirt. A gas pocket fan inflates the gas pockets prior to and during deflation of the skirt, wherein the gas pockets are constrained to move from a mutually spaced apart position when the skirt is inflated, to a mutually closely adjacent position when the skirt is fully deflated.

An air cushioned landing system for an air vehicle comprises an inflatable and deflatable skirt (113) in the form of a tube having inner (101) and outer (100) walls. The inner wall defines a central plenum (116) within the skirt, the skirt including gas pockets (130) arranged to stiffen one or more regions of at least one of the inner (101) and outer (100) sidewalls during deflation of the skirt. A gas pocket fan inflates the gas pockets prior to and during deflation of the skirt, wherein the gas pockets are constrained to move from a mutually spaced apart position when the skirt is inflated, to a mutually closely adjacent position when the skirt is fully deflated.