It is a highly versatile ship that combines two operating modes depending on the position of its central platform. While in the cruise mode, the platform is raised and the L-CAT features the speed and seaworthiness of an up to date catamaran, in the landing mode, the central platform is lowered and the L-CAT features an outstanding reduced draft. Switching from one mode to the other can be done anytime at sea.

Developed by CNIM, the landing catamaran (L-CAT) 100 has the twin hulls of a catamaran, but its central platform, resembling an elevator, can be raised or lowered, thus transforming the L-CAT from a catamaran to flat-bottomed landing craft, and back again. It can operate out of any modern LPD and provides unmatched throughput in landing operations. Its payload represents typically an infantry or border guard section, depending on the user’s inventory.

The L-CAT construction relies on conventional, stateof-the-art technologies. Its design makes it accessible to any vehicle, road gauge, in a roll-on roll-off mode. It can shuttle indifferently between a harbour, a mother ship at sea or an unprepared shore.

The L-CAT is based on the integration of a mobile loading platform into the hull of a catamaran. In its raised position, the L-CAT is a catamaran that is transformed into a flat bottom ship by deploying its platform in the lowered position, for the purposes of unloading on any beach in the absence of port facilities.