IN Brief:
- Rolls-Royce has received a $48.1m modification for Ship-to-Shore Connector spares.
- The package includes six MT7 engines, ancillary parts, installation kits, and wider fleet-support hardware.
- Work will continue in Indianapolis through December 2029 as the LCAC 100 fleet expands.
Rolls-Royce has received a $48.1m US Navy contract modification to produce spares for the Ship-to-Shore Connector programme, including six MT7 gas-turbine engines for the LCAC 100-class air-cushion landing craft.
The firm-fixed-price modification to contract N00024-25-C-2405 covers fiscal 2025 base installation and checkout spares, fiscal 2025 fleet spares, fiscal 2026 spares, and six MT7 engines with ancillary parts and installation kits. Work will be carried out in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is scheduled to finish in December 2029.
The Navy will obligate the full $48.1m at award. The requirement is part of the support structure behind the Ship-to-Shore Connector fleet as more craft move from production and trials into operational service, increasing demand for engines, installation hardware, repairable components, and routine fleet spares.
The Ship-to-Shore Connector replaces the Navy’s legacy Landing Craft Air Cushion fleet and is designed to move vehicles, equipment, and personnel between amphibious ships and the shore without relying on conventional port infrastructure. Naval Sea Systems Command describes the LCAC 100 family as capable of carrying roughly 74 tons at more than 35 knots while remaining compatible with the well decks of existing amphibious ships.
That compatibility reduces the changes required on the ships that carry the craft, but the propulsion system is substantially newer. Rolls-Royce developed the MT7 from the common-core architecture used in the AE 1107C-Liberty aero engine that powers the V-22 Osprey. The marine engine produces up to 4.6MW and is designed around the high power density required by an air-cushion vehicle.
An LCAC has to generate both lift and forward motion, placing heavy demands on the powertrain. The craft must sustain its air cushion while carrying large loads at speed, often in salt-laden, abrasive environments that impose their own maintenance burden on engines, air systems, gearboxes, and surrounding equipment.
Spare engines reduce the time that a failed or maintenance-due powerplant can keep a craft out of service. An engine can be removed and replaced while the original unit enters a deeper repair or inspection process, separating the platform’s return to operation from the full duration of the engine maintenance cycle.
The wider spares package supports the same principle. Installation and checkout items are needed as bases and units receive new craft, while fleet spares sustain routine operation once those craft are in service. Ancillary parts and installation kits also reduce the risk that a serviceable engine remains unavailable because a smaller interface component or fitting is missing.
The MT7’s relationship with the AE engine family adds industrial commonality. Rolls-Royce says the shared architecture allows the marine engine to draw on established production facilities, supply-chain capacity, and aftermarket support. The LCAC application still has its own marine installation and operating requirements, but the engine does not depend on a completely isolated manufacturing base.
That matters for a relatively low-volume naval propulsion product. Maintaining specialist tooling, qualified suppliers, engineering knowledge, and repair capability is easier when part of the underlying technology is shared with a larger engine family, particularly over a service life that can extend well beyond the original production run.
The Ship-to-Shore Connector programme is already in serial production, with delivered craft progressing through post-delivery testing and trials before joining operational assault-craft units. As fleet numbers increase, the support challenge changes: the programme must sustain enough engines, lift-system components, controls, skirts, and other spares to maintain availability across a larger number of operating craft.
That transition receives less attention than a launch or delivery but has a direct effect on readiness. A new connector only adds capacity if units can keep it fuelled, repaired, and supplied with high-value components throughout routine training and deployed operations. Engine availability becomes particularly important because propulsion faults can affect both speed and the ability to maintain the air cushion.
The contract also gives Rolls-Royce production visibility through 2029. A multi-year requirement for complete spare engines and associated hardware can help suppliers plan labour, materials, and manufacturing capacity around a fleet whose annual demand is too small to support large speculative inventories.
Configuration control will remain important as the LCAC 100 fleet grows. Spare engines and installation kits have to match the standard of craft entering service, while later engineering changes must be incorporated without creating unnecessary variation across the fleet. The support chain has to preserve enough technical data and repair authority to manage those changes once production eventually slows.
The six MT7s do not increase the number of Ship-to-Shore Connectors the Navy owns, but they strengthen the support system behind them. By the end of the contract in 2029, the useful measure will be whether spare-engine availability and associated logistics can keep pace with a fleet that is moving steadily from acquisition into sustained amphibious service.
