28-7ACF "Catalina II" Next Generation Amphibious Aircraft (NGAA)
Catalina Aircraft is currently socializing our 28-7ACF “Catalina II” NGAA twin turboprop program to reintroduce what will be the only Western certificated Transport Category / Standard Airworthiness turboprop amphibious flying boat in civil, commercial, sovereignty, and military service through a low technical risk production restart of a proven design, which to date has no (ZERO) airframe Airworthiness Directives (ADs). Catalina Aircraft estimates the time to field this new production turboprop variant of a previously proven and type certificated design could be accomplished in 1/3 the time it takes to field a new design at 1/10 the development expense, thus saving significant schedule and Billions of Dollars in development.
The 28-7ACF “Catalina II” NGAA will be constructed using modern corrosion resistant materials, assembly practices and supportability initiatives to ensure the Material Availability and Operational Availability (Ao) remains at the highest rates possible. Many existing and proven in-service systems will be employed to minimize logistics footprint growth and provide for commonality of components between the NGAA and existing / emerging in-service aerial platforms.
As the 28-7ACF “Catalina II” NGAA is based heavily on the design fundamentals of the 28-5ACF “Catalina”, it is also possible for Catalina Aircraft to configure customer specific (Milestone C) demonstrator prototype airplanes exploiting existing 28-5ACF “Catalina” airframes that could be upgraded and modified to customer specified NGAA “Catalina II” configurations. By modifying existing Catalina airframes, it is possible to accelerate prototyping timelines and demonstrate / prove out design concepts very effectively and efficiently. This approach reduces risk and removes the need to develop and prove an entirely new airplane design concept, which requires the preliminary design to be completed before the first prototype can be produced and tested. This mod plan for a “new standard NGAA variant” approach permits unparalleled risk reduction for new production aircraft and provides a leap forward towards civil certified platform availability in time frames not possible with clean sheet designs.
Employing existing 28-5ACF “Catalina” airframes, Catalina Aircraft can provide a potential customer with radial engine or modified turboprop engine powered “Catalina” airplanes to demonstrate Commercial Transport Capabilities, Concepts Of Employment (COE) capability demonstrations, participation in amphibious landing and threat environment penetration exercises. Leveraging existing airframes the Catalina can fulfill Joint Urgent Operational Needs (JUONs), Urgent Operational Needs (UONs) from any service and Partner Nation faster than a clean sheet design concept. Catalina and Catalina II can open the door to opportunities and help solve niche mission requests and meet National Defense Strategic visions of US and Partner Nations. The capability provided by the platform enables commercial proliferation opportunities ultimately reducing production and parts costs for the government over the life cycle of the platform program.
Catalina Aircraft has identified over fifty (50) potential unclassified civil, commercial, government, and military roles and missions the 28-7ACF “Catalina II” NGAA could perform. Amphibious operations that traditionally relied on a mixture of land-based vehicles, conventional fixed-wing aircraft, vessels, and vessel-based rotorcraft can now be accomplished with a single common multi-mission platform amphibious flying boat. Deployment ranges (from home-based or austere Aerial Ports of Embarkation / Debarkation) can be extended and payloads increased as the benefits of fixed-wing performance are now coupled with the virtually unlimited insertion / extraction point potential of any sufficiently larger body of water or shoreline with modern, reliable, powerful and efficient turboprop systems.
The 28-7ACF “Catalina II” NGAA targets two major aircraft client groups, the civilian / commercial operator and Military / Government customer. For situations where the NGAA would be used to penetrate and conduct operations in contested maritime environments, the Air Vehicle could be converted to an optionally manned or unmanned (UM/UAS) platform (much like DARPA PCAS did with another existing Air Vehicle). Listed below are many of the potential Civil / Commercial, unclassified Department of Defense, Joint Services, Defense Ministry, and Provincial multi-role niches that the common platform airframe variants could be capable of performing;
Civil/Commercial Applications:
● Commuter Airline Passenger Transport
● Air Cargo Transport
● Aerial Firefighting
● Offshore Oil Rig Support
● Corporate / Personal Transport
● Air Ambulance
● Environmental Disaster Response
● Dive Emergency Response
● Fisheries Bulk Stocking
● Humanitarian Aid
● Postal / Supply Delivery
● Adventure Sports Transport
Sovereignty Roles:
● Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA)*
● Border Patrol
● Coast Guard Search & Rescue
● Customs Patrol
● Coast Guard Maritime Disaster Response
● Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ) Patrol*
● Riot Control (Water/Foam Drop)
● Disaster Relief Support (Hurricane, Typhoon, Tsunami)
● Hurricane / Typhoon Hunter*
● Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami (DART) Station Support
Military Missions:
● Anti-Piracy Patrol / Gunship*
● Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW)*
● Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) w/ Dipping Sonar*
● Counter Insurgency (COIN)*
● Combat Search & Rescue (CSAR)*
● Executive / Head of State (HOS) Transport
● Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (ISR)*
● Military Air Ambulance
● Aerial Weapons Platform (Organic Airborne Artillery)*
● Aerial Refueling Tanker*
● Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C)*
● Airborne Mine Neutralization System (AMNS)*
● Sea Basing Troop Transport (Ship To Shore)
● Sea Basing Cargo Transport (Ship To Shore)*
● Special Operations Forces Support (SOFS)
● Tactical Bulk Fuel Delivery*
● Submarine Emergency Evacuation*
● Air Droppable Payload Delivery*
● Airspace Range Clearing*
● Surface Range Clearing (w/ interdiction)
● Maritime UAV Control, Support, and Recovery
● Target Tow (Airborne/Surface)*
● Non-Lethal Suppression / Interdiction Operations
● Cold Weather Insertion & Resupply*
● Non-combatant Evacuation Operations (NEO)
● Command and Control*
● (100’ Span) Modular Aerial Spray Systems (MASS)*
● Carrier On-board (COD) Delivery and Recovery
● Blue Water Delivery and Recovery
* Denotes possible CONOPS where Air Vehicle could be converted to an optionally manned or unmanned (UM/UAS) platform.
Realizing that seventy-one percent (71%) of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, why are amphibious flying boats not more commonly employed in today’s amphibious operations? Quite simply; because no one is currently building Western certificated Transport Category amphibious flying boats. The production continuation 28-7ACF “Catalina II” NGAA can provide civil, commercial, sovereignty and military operators significant capabilities expansion over any current platform employed in amphibious operations today. As an air-bridge, the 28-7ACF “Catalina II” NGAA can offer precision, speed and flexibility from land to air to sea.
With an almost limitless multi - CONOPS potential from a single platform, the 28-7ACF “Catalina II” NGAA can offer a single asset solution capable of replacing several existing platform types, thus reducing Acquisition, Operational and Sustainment costs. Professional organizations who would like to learn more about the new production turboprop Catalina II, may request a copy of our Next Generation Amphibious Aircraft (NGAA) white paper from our Business Development team at:
