In the naval field, in addition to the mainstream ships such as aircraft carriers, destroyers, amphibious assault ships, frigates, and supply ships, there is also a type of ship called an air cushion landing craft. As the name suggests, these ships are used to grab the beach and land. In this field, the two more famous models are the LCAC of the United States and the European bison of Russia.
Although the same hovercraft used for amphibious landing operations, the LCAC and the Bison are not at all comparable, and the two are far from each other in terms of design and use.
LCAC is a kind of ship used to transfer troops between amphibious landing ships or dock landing ships and beachhead positions, and can be regarded as a transferor between landing ships and beachheads as a force carrying and delivery base, so its carrying capacity is limited, and the strength of a main battle tank or an infantry company is limited, which is only equivalent to a mechanized landing craft, but can be loaded in the dock of an amphibious assault ship or dock landing ship and deployed remotely with the ship.
The role and use of LCAC is very clear, this is an auxiliary ship, to help large surface ships to complete a large number of personnel landing from the sea, can also carry some equipment, but it is very clear that this hovercraft should be placed in amphibious landing ships or aircraft carriers, not for solo combat, after saying this, let's talk about Russia's European Bison class landing craft.
In contrast, the "Bison" has a carrying capacity of nearly three times that of the LCAC, but because the "Bison" cannot be accommodated by any other ship, it can only sail by its own power, and it is difficult to achieve ocean-going delivery forces, so it is only suitable for landing operations where the intended landing site is closer to the departure base.
This is easy to understand, the bison is designed to fight alone. The reason is simple: this is a weapon designed by Russia according to its own geographical limitations. This hovercraft can be used alone in the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and even the Baltic Sea, relying on its own endurance and protection capabilities to complete the set task.
The Bison still has special advantages over the LCAC, especially important of which the Bison has a light surface combat ship-class anti-aircraft firepower, and is also equipped with a 140 mm multi-rocket system that can be used for landing fire support, so it is more survivable and can provide fire cover and support for its landing forces, and is more mission-agile than LCAC.
In general, the respective advantages and disadvantages of LCAC and "Bison" are obvious, and it can even be said that their respective disadvantages are precisely the advantages of the other, and the two can be considered to complement each other to a certain extent, which is why some current maritime forces are equipped with air-cushion landing ships similar to LCAC and similar to "Bison".
But it is clear that after having amphibious landing ships and large surface ships, air cushion landing ships of this class of the European Bison are not suitable for large-scale construction. Aircraft landing craft of the LCAC class are more popular, which is why the European Bison class is used less.