Griffon Hoverwork has a long-standing relationship with the Royal Marines, having supplied the first of several 2000TD hovercraft in 1993. Griffon’s understanding of the ever-evolving role of small, fast boats for attack and counterattack scenarios, coupled with their unrivalled pedigree in the design and build of some of the fastest marine craft in the world, makes them an ideal partner for the UK military.
Both the troop-carrying and fire support variants of the Offshore Raiding Craft (ORC) required a mid-life upgrade while the changing parameters of operations meant a radical rethink of the craft’s design.
By creating a multi-purpose craft, redesignated as Commando Raiding Craft (CRC), Griffon has designed a craft which can be re-configured for different operational requirements.
Built from marine grade aluminium, the craft are first shot blasted back to bare aluminium, examined and pressure tested looking for corrosion, metal fatigue and damage before carrying out the necessary repairs. It was decided that the entire craft should be painted grey to help offer the best form of concealment, especially when coming over the horizon. To facilitate this, Griffon conducted extensive research into specialist paints to ensure that a grey finish could be applied to a range of different materials.
A key design change has been to shift the operator position from aft to forward to improve both manoeuvrability and visibility. To make this revision, Griffon changed the material specification of both the console and the communications locker, removed some of the bow stowage and area, and exchanged the traditional heavy kedge and warp with lightweight alternatives.
Fitting two new Yanmar 6LPA-STPZF63 engines increases the range to more than 200 nautical miles and provides a top speed of over 40 knots. There are also new raw water cooling systems with the low pressure exhaust running out aft and a reconfigured midship exhaust outlet used to dump the debris from the sand traps.
Other upgrades include a new communications and radar navigation suite, a new mast, revised trim for better stability, three universal weapons mounts (for 12.7 mm or 7.62 mm machine guns or 40 mm grenade launchers), and space to embark small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), carry payloads, or to store smaller inshore raiding craft or tow them to deploy on landings as required.
Colonel Will Norcott, CO, 47 Commando (Raiding Group) Royal Marines, added: “The operator has better fields of view, and with the enhanced communications and radar systems on board, situation awareness is improved. Thanks to the newer technology it can go further and it's more manoeuvrable which is key as the craft operates tactically along complex waterways and coastlines. We now have a single multi-purpose craft that can be configured differently which supports the Commando force model of small, disaggregated teams with a dispersed footprint.”