Jane's Surface Skimmers. 1981

Документ продается с актуализацией на дату продажи!
Time to advance the technology Most predictions firmly agree that hovercraft sales, both commercial and military, will rise at an unprecedented rate throughout the present decade. A promising sign that the marketing forecasts may be squarely on target is that by early January 1981 advanced orders placed for Western hovercraft for delivery up to the mid-1980s had already reached the all-time record of ?100 million. Even more encouraging is the long-term growth prospect, which should result in a substantial number of major orders for fast hoverferries, freighters and warships from the West and for a variety of specialist and multi-duty vehicles to help open up the hinterlands of the Third World countries. The new orders will provide the industry with much-needed funds and could well mark a vital turning point in the industry's fortunes; but there is no doubt that its future success will depend increasingly on the degree to which the companies and governments alike are prepared to advance the state of the technology. As the acceptance of the hovercraft widens, so will the expectations of the potential clients tend to broaden. To meet their requirements in many cases significant improvements in a number of design areas will be expected. For too many years modification has been the traditional means of keeping existing hovercraft in the current sales list. Within the industry "make-do and modify" has become almost a way of life to avoid the cost of investing in entirely new designs. In the early 1960s there was considerable enthusiasm for the potential of hovercraft which resulted in substantial sums being invested in research and development by both government and private industry. It was perhaps unfortunate that the world's first 2/3 seat man-carrying hovercraft, the SR.N1, was such an immediate success. In a blaze of publicity it crossed the Channel within weeks of first hovering. This rate of progress was extrapolated, but it was not fully appreciated that the SR.N1 was an experimental craft which merely confirmed that cross-Channel commercial operations might be viable. Subsequently, the apparently slow rate of progress in bringing large seagoing hovercraft into fruition towards the end of the 1960s resulted in a reduction of expenditure, particularly on research. It has been estimated that over the life of the UK hovercraft industry on average only ?1 million per year has been spent on research. Had this figure been ten to fifteen times as great it is probable that by now startling advances in the technology would have been made which would have more than paid for themselves by greatly improved sales. Significant advances could have been made in ride quality, controllability, noise reduction, spray reduction, first cost and operating costs. With the exception of the first item, improvements would have been achieved by tackling the problems methodically and matching the cost of achieving the improvements against the increase in the general acceptance of hovercraft in all roles. In the case of ride quality, however, a fundamentally different approach has been more appropriate. There may be a strong parallel in the three-dimensional active control system of the Jetfoil. In the late 1950s the father of hovercraft. Sir Christopher Cockerell, envisaged the use of automatic control systems to improve the ride when operating over rough surfaces. As an electronics engineer he was not too concerned with the difficulty of producing the appropriate "black boxes", but could foresee problems in fitting hovercraft with the physical devices for controlling the pitch, roll and vertical displacement. However, small-scale experimental installations have shown that there are several methods of control which could be used to improve the ride quality of hovercraft to a point where it offers positive improvements. There is a minimum level of funding which, if applied to improving the qualities referred to, would make the craft more attractive to military and civil operators and to the public. This level of expenditure has not been achieved and in recent years this has resulted in static, or even falling, sales. There is considerable evidence that more advanced levels of ACV activity exist outside the United Kingdom and United States which should justify a drastic revision of the official attitude to the hovercraft's potential for defence operations and as a means of improving communications. Industrial research and development has been called many things. In North America, for example, every R & D dollar spent is regarded as a worthy investment in the future of that particular industry or market sector. Within the agricultural community, R & D has been described as the "fertiliser in the field of opportunity". Most industrialists recognise that without adequate funding for research and development there is a constant danger that the customers' demands or expectations will exceed the capabilities of the product. When this occurs the customer is forced to look elsewhere and a supplier, possibly of several years' standing, loses both a customer and a major market advantage. Содержание FOREWORD ACV MANUFACTURERS AND DESIGN GROUPS Australia Brazil Bulgaria Canada China, People's Republic Czechoslovakia Finland France Germany, Federal Republic Indonesia Japan Korea, Republic New Zealand Poland Singapore Spain Trinidad Union of Soviet Socialist Republics United Kingdom United States of America ACV OPERATORS Abu Dhabi Australia Bahrain Belgium Brazil Canada China, People's Republic Egypt Finland France Hong Kong Iran Iraq Israel Italy Japan Jordan Netherlands New Zealand Nigeria Pakistan Philippines Portugal Saudi Arabia Union of Soviet Socialist Republics United Kingdom United States of America Venezuela Zaire ACV TRAILERS AND HEAVY LIFT SYSTEMS Australia Canada France Japan Union of Soviet Socialist Republics United Kingdom United States of America TRACKED SKIMMERS Brazil France Germany, Federal Republic Japan Union of Soviet Socialist Republics United States of America AIR CUSHION APPLICATORS, CONVEYORS AND PALLETS Australia France Germany, Federal Republic Trinidad Union of Soviet Socialist Republics United Kingdom United States of America HYDROFOILS Bolivia Canada China, People's Republic France Israel Italy HYDROFOILS cont Japan Poland Romania Singapore Switzerland Union of Soviet Socialist Republics United States of America SAILING SKIMMERS Japan Poland United Kingdom United States of America HYDROFOIL OPERATORS Albania Argentina Australia Austria Belgium Bolivia Brazil Bulgaria Canada China, People's Republic Cuba Denmark Egypt Finland France Germany, Democratic Republic Germany, Federal Republic Greece Hong Kong Hungary Indonesia Iran Ireland Israel Italy Japan Korea, Republic Morocco New Zealand Norway Pakistan Philippines Poland Romania Spain Sri Lanka Sweden Tanzania Turkey Union of Soviet Socialist Republics United Kingdom United States of America Uruguay Venezuela Yugoslavia Zaire FAST CATAMARANS Norway ..United Kingdom SEMI-SUBMERGED CATAMARANS Japan United States of America POWER PLANTS AND PROPULSION SYSTEMS Canada France Germany, Federal Republic Italy Union of Soviet Socialist Republics United Kingdom United States of America LICENSING AUTHORITIES CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS ACV AND HYDROFOIL CONSULTANTS GLOSSARY BIBLIOGRAPHY ADDENDA INDEX