CDI Marine Systems in the US (formerly Band, Lavis & Associates) has been involved continuously in the research and development of Air Cushion Vehicle (ACVs) since 1977, and the company's long involvement in developing ACV technology has seen the company work on almost every significant ACV programme in the US and many in Europe and the Far East. However, as David Lavis and Brian Forsell at CDI explained, since the rapid developments that took place in the 1960s, it has only been during the last decade that additional significant technological advances have occurred, primarily as a result of the continued evolution of more powerful computers and the recent advances in numerical analysis and design tools that have been used to produce a range of new air cushion skirts, lift fans, ducted air-screw propulsors, and bow thrusters.
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