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Four Textron Lycoming TF40B marine gas turbine engines are used to power the U.S. Navy’s Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) vehicle. This is the first hovercraft of this configuration to be put in service for the Navy. Operation and test of the first production craft revealed deficiencies and less than desirable reliability, but confirmed the validity of its design and ability to perform the mission. After intensive efforts to resolve these problems, reliability trends began to improve as a result of corrective actions incorporated. Today, the LCAC fleet has accrued over 50,000 engine operating hours. Presented here are the changes which have been incorporated into the configuration of the TF40B engine to eliminate both engine unique and vehicle related discrepancies revealed through fleet experience. These changes have contributed significantly toward the improvement of the engine’s mean time between removal (MTBR) and mean time between failure (MTBF) rates. |
