A Marine Corps has finally received the first Amphibious Combat Vehicles, according to a press release issued by the 1st Marine Division.
On 4 November, the Marine Corps inducted into service its first batch of new wheeled Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACV) during the ‘activation ceremony’. The ACV, built by BAE Systems in cooperation with Italy’s Iveco, will replace the service’s Cold War-era tracked Assault Amphibious Vehicle family.
“The ceremony was held to officially introduce the Marine Corps’ Amphibious Combat Vehicle, which is meant to supplement and eventually replace the current Amphibious Assault Vehicles,” said in a recent service news release.
As a replacement for the more than 40 years old, 30-ton tracked vehicles, the ACV provides protection akin to the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle, with landward maneuverability and mobility that is superior to that of the AAV.
The ACV is an eight-wheeled vehicle designed from the ground up to fulfill the complex mission objective of deploying Marines from ship to shore.
This no-compromise 8×8 platform offering is a unique mix of true open-ocean amphibious capability, land mobility, survivability, payload, and growth potential to accommodate the evolving operational needs of the U.S. Marine Corps.
In the future, the Corps intends to develop, procure and field three additional variants that specialize in command and control, recovery operations and increased firepower.
In addition, earlier in May, U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command has contracted BAE Systems for the design and build of the Corps’ new Amphibious Combat Vehicle medium caliber cannon mission role variant.
