The U.S. Marine Corps has formally retired the Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV), closing a chapter that spanned more than half a century of amphibious warfare.
The vehicle was officially decommissioned during an AAV Sundown Ceremony on September 26 at the Assault Amphibian School at Camp Pendleton, California, commemorating 53 years of service and honoring the Marines and Sailors who operated it.
The ceremony marked both an end and a beginning: the farewell to a platform that served in conflicts around the world and the transition to the Corps’ next-generation Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV), designed for a new era of expeditionary warfare.
Col. Lynn W. Berendsen, commanding officer of the Assault Amphibian School, paid tribute to the legacy of the AAV and those who served with it.
“The AAV-P7 has been many things, a ship to shore connector, an armored fighting vehicle, a troop carrier, a logistics platform and even sometimes a live boat,” Berendsen said. “Most importantly it was in a place where Marines made their mark in combat in service and in sacrifice.”
The AAV’s story is one rooted in the evolution of amphibious warfare. It replaced the Landing Vehicle, Tracked (LVT), which first saw combat in August 1942 during the Solomon Islands Campaign. The LVT proved decisive in amphibious assaults from Tarawa to Inchon and continued its service through the Vietnam War, where it enabled Marines to cross beaches, rivers, and flooded terrain under fire.
Introduced in 1972 and initially designated as the Landing Vehicle, Tracked, Personnel-7, the AAV featured a water-jet propulsion system and a stern ramp to streamline ship-to-shore deployment. In the 1980s, a major service life extension program brought new engines, transmissions, and weapon stations, and the platform was redesignated as the AAV-7A1. Over the years, it continued to receive upgrades to meet the changing demands of modern combat.
The AAV’s operational history spans five decades of global missions. It carried Marines ashore in Grenada, supported humanitarian operations in Somalia, and transported troops during the Persian Gulf War and the conflicts in Iraq. Beyond its combat role, the vehicle delivered supplies, provided protected mobility, and operated in environments ranging from littoral zones to inland deserts.
“The AAV gave Marines both mobility and armored protection allowing them to close with the enemy and seize objectives at speed,” Berendsen said. “In the desert, just as in the Pacific beaches decades earlier, showed it was more than a connector, it was a fighting vehicle at the heart of the Marine Air Ground Task Force.”
The AAV’s retirement coincides with the Marine Corps’ transition to the Amphibious Combat Vehicle — a platform designed to meet the demands of future expeditionary warfare. The eight-wheeled ACV offers enhanced mobility, protection, and adaptability, and it comes in multiple variants, including personnel transport, command and control, recovery, and fire support. Its design integrates with naval shipping and modern amphibious connectors, enabling the Marine Corps to deploy more rapidly and operate effectively in contested environments.
The introduction of the ACV aligns with the service’s Force Design modernization plan, which emphasizes agility, speed, and survivability in distributed maritime operations. As part of a broader transformation, the new platform is expected to strengthen joint and naval capabilities while enabling Marines to confront evolving threats.
The ceremony concluded with a symbolic final pass: three AAVs crossing the parade deck one last time before being retired from active service.