Editing Hovercraft (section)

===Military===
{{See also|Air-cushioned landing craft}}

====China====
[[File:Naval Museum 4 - panoramio.jpg|thumb|Prototype 452 of Type 722 II LCAC in Chinese Navy Museum, Qingdao]]

The People's Army Navy of [[China]] operates the [[Jingsah II class LCAC]]. This troop and equipment carrying hovercraft is roughly the Chinese equivalent of the U.S. Navy [[Landing Craft Air Cushion|LCAC]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Saunders |first=Stephen |title=Jane's Fighting Ships 2003-2004 |isbn=0-7106-2546-4}}</ref>

====Finland====

The [[Finnish Navy]] designed an experimental missile attack hovercraft class, [[Tuuli class hovercraft]], in the late 1990s. The prototype of the class, ''Tuuli'', was commissioned in 2000. It proved an extremely successful design for a [[littoral]] fast attack craft, but due to fiscal reasons and doctrinal change in the Navy, the hovercraft was soon withdrawn.

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====Iran====
[[File:2012 Bandar Abbas new equipment induction ceremony - Tondar hovercraft (17).jpg|thumb|Tondar hovercraft]]

The [[Iranian Navy]] operates multiple British-made<ref name="harpoondatabases">{{cite web |title=LCAC / PGAC Wellington BH.7 (Iran) class |url=http://www.harpoondatabases.com/Encyclopedia/Entry3065.aspx |url-status=dead |publisher=harpoondatabases.com |access-date=2014-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222101202/http://www.harpoondatabases.com/Encyclopedia/Entry3065.aspx |archive-date=2014-02-22}}</ref><ref name="globalsecurity">{{cite web |last=Pike |first=John |title=Iranian Warships |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/ships.htm |url-status=live |publisher= globalsecurity.org |access-date=2014-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140406225406/http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/ships.htm |archive-date=2014-04-06}}</ref> and some Iranian-produced hovercraft.<ref name="nzweek">{{cite web |title=Iran unveils home-made missile launching hovercraft - NZweek |url=http://www.nzweek.com/world/iran-unveils-home-made-missile-launching-hovercraft-24020/ |url-status=live |publisher=nzweek.com |access-date=2014-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223024452/http://www.nzweek.com/world/iran-unveils-home-made-missile-launching-hovercraft-24020/ |archive-date=2014-02-23}}</ref><ref name="jamejamonline">{{cite web |title=Media/images/1388/03/06/100907865558 |url=http://jamejamonline.ir/Media/images/1388/03/06/100907865558.jpg |url-status=live |publisher=jamejamonline.ir |access-date=2014-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306214049/http://www.jamejamonline.ir/Media/images/1388/03/06/100907865558.jpg |archive-date=2014-03-06}}</ref> The [[Tondar (Hovercraft)|Tondar]] or Thunderbolt comes in varieties designed for combat and transportation. Iran has equipped the Tondar with mid-range missiles, machine guns and retrievable reconnaissance drones. Currently they are used for water patrols and combat against drug smugglers.

====Russia====
[[File:NavalLanding2015-21.jpg|thumb|left|A ''Zubr''-class landing craft, an example of a large armed military hovercraft]]

The [[Soviet Union]] had military hovercraft such as the small [[Czilim-class hovercraft]], comparable to the SR.N6, the large [[Zubr-class LCAC|''Zubr''-class]] [[landing craft]] and the [[Bora-class corvette|Bora]] missile launcher [[surface effect ship]] (a hybrid between a hovercraft and a [[catamaran]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://warhistory.org/@msw/article/soviet-naval-infantry-and-air-cushion-vehicles |title=Soviet Naval Infantry and Air Cushion vehicles |website=warhistory.org |date=2018-11-01 |access-date=2025-01-01}}</ref>

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====United Kingdom====
[[File:Royal Marine Hovercraft on Patrol in Iraq MOD 45142903.jpg|thumb|right|A Griffon 2000 TDX Class hovercraft of the [[Royal Marines]] on patrol in Iraq in April 2003]]

The first application of the hovercraft for military use was by the [[British Armed Forces]], using hovercraft built by Saunders-Roe. In 1961, the United Kingdom set up the Interservice Hovercraft Trials Unit (IHTU) based at [[RNAS Lee-on-Solent (HMS Daedalus)]], now the site of the [[Hovercraft Museum]], near [[Portsmouth]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yun |first1=Liang |last2=Bliault |first2=Alan |date=2012 |title=High Performance Marine Vessels |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3wcDzNJpXf0C&pg=PA323 |location=New York |publisher=Springer |page=323 |isbn=978-1461408680 }}</ref> This unit carried out trials on the SR.N1 from Mk1 through Mk5 as well as testing the [[SR.N2]], [[SR.N3]], [[SR.N5]] and [[SR.N6]] craft. The Hovercraft Trials Unit (Far East) was established by the Royal Navy at [[Singapore]] in August 1964 with two armed hovercraft; they were deployed later that year to [[Tawau]] in Malaysian [[Borneo]] and operated on waterways there during the [[Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=John |date=2009 |title=Safeguarding the Nation: The Story of the Modern Royal Navy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vObZAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT69 |publisher=Seaforth Publishing |page=69 |isbn=978-1848320437}}</ref> The hovercraft's inventor, Sir [[Christopher Cockerell]], claimed late in his life that the [[Falklands War]] could have been won far more easily had the British military shown more commitment to the hovercraft;<ref>{{cite news |title=Hover bother on the horizon |last=Margolis |first=Jonathan |work=[[The Sunday Times]] |date=1995-12-10}}</ref> although earlier trials had been conducted in the Falkland Islands with an SRN-6, the hovercraft unit had been disbanded by the time of the conflict.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hollebone |first= Ashley |date=2012 |title=The Hovercraft: A History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fo47AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT107 |publisher=The History Press |page=107 |isbn=978-0752464794}}</ref> Currently, the [[Royal Marines]] use the [[Griffon 2000TD hovercraft|Griffonhoverwork 2400TD]] hovercraft, the replacement for the Griffon 2000 TDX Class ACV, which was deployed operationally by the marines in the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.blandgroup.com/news-community/griffon-hoverwork-secure-ministry-of-defence-contract/109-240/ |title=Griffon Hoverwork secure Ministry of Defence contract |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=13 November 2019 |website=www.blandgroup.com |publisher=Bland Group UK Holdings Ltd |access-date=11 July 2020}}</ref>

====United States====

During the 1960s, [[Bell Aircraft|Bell]] licensed and sold the Saunders-Roe SR.N5 as the Bell SK-5. They were deployed on trial to the [[Vietnam War]] by the [[United States Navy]] as ''[[PACV]]'' [[patrol craft]] in the [[Mekong Delta]] where their [[Motion (physics)|mobility]] and [[speed]] was unique. This was used in both the UK SR.N5 curved [[Deck (ship)|deck]] configuration and later with modified flat deck, [[gun turret]] and [[grenade launcher]] designated the 9255 PACV. The United States Army also experimented with the use of SR.N5 hovercraft in Vietnam. Three hovercraft with the flat deck configuration were deployed to [[Đồng Tâm Base Camp|Đồng Tâm]] in the Mekong Delta region and later to Ben Luc. They saw action primarily in the [[Đồng Tháp Mười|Plain of Reeds]]. One was destroyed in early 1970 and another in August of that same year, after which the unit was disbanded. The only remaining U.S. Army SR.N5 hovercraft is currently on display in the [[Fort Eustis|Army Transport Museum]] in [[Virginia]].

Experience led to the proposed Bell SK-10, which was the basis for the [[Landing Craft Air Cushion|LCAC-class]] [[air-cushioned landing craft]] now deployed by the U.S. and [[Japanese Navy]]. Developed and tested in the mid-1970s, the [[LACV-30]] was used by the US Army to transport military cargo in logistics-over-the-shore operations from the early 1980s until the mid-1990s.<ref>{{cite web |last=Pike |first=John |title=Lighter Air Cushioned Vehicle 30-ton (LACV 30) |publisher=globalsecurity.org |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/lacv-30.htm |url-status=live |access-date=2016-05-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921063523/http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/lacv-30.htm |archive-date=2016-09-21}}</ref>

<gallery mode=packed heights=160>
File:South Vietnam....A U.S. Navy patrol air cushion vehicle (PACV) glides over the waters of Cau Hai Bay near Hue. - NARA - 558515.tif|A U.S. patrol air cushion vehicle (PACV) in Cau Hai Bay near Hue South Vietnam 1968
File:LCAC 19970620.jpg|A [[U.S. Navy]] Landing Craft Air Cushion, an example of a military hovercraft
</gallery>