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The company thinks the time is right to relaunch the venerable flying boat.

“Our senior management team made the decision to formalise a production restart programme,” Catalina says, citing “positive interest” from unnamed “governments, militaries, agencies and commercial operators”.

The company says NGAA Catalina IIs will be capable of operating from oceans, rivers and lakes, and from tarmac, dirt and grass runways.

The civilian variant will have maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of 14,515kg (32,000lb), with capacity for 34 passengers or 5,443kg of cargo. The military version will have an expanded MTOW of 18,143kg.

The US military has expressed interest in water-capable aircraft in recent months. Special Operations Command is exploring a seaplane variant of Lockheed Martin’s C-130J transport, while the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is developing a heavy-lift seaplane known as the Liberty Lifter. General Atomics and Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences are participating in that project.

Defence giant Lockheed Martin has also invested in start-up Regent Craft, which is developing a wing-in-ground-effect vehicle (it calls them ”seagliders”) with potential military applications.

Such projects are geared toward helping the Pentagon prepare for potential conflicts in the Indo-Pacific region – where vast swaths of open ocean and small, lightly developed islands present substantial challenges to military planners.

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