Russian Navy Hovercraft lands on crowded beach

[dumaniac]

yes - massive machine

no panic on the beach though

[rickshaw]

Were there any thoughts towards a military version of the SRN4?

I know that at least one SRN3 was leased by the MoD for a brief period for trials and there was discussion of using the SRN4 as a minesweeper, but I cannot recall any actual military use.  There MAY have been military input into the design process. Trouble is, landing a force by SRN4 would hardly count as a clandestine approach to the beach!! It was noisy enough as a passenger,  so I must admire Kit's dedication to technology, stuck in an APU bay.

You would use the SRN4 to land vehicles and by the time you do that, it would be the second or third wave and as part of either a very large raid (ie Dieppe) or as part of an outright invasion (ie D-Day), so I rather think that the enemy may well be alerted somewhat to what is going on.   If you want to be clandestine, then either conventional boats or landing craft might be a better bet.  Even falboats perhaps?