Proposed solution for Phase I of the USMC’s Amphibious Combat Vehicle program dominated the show floor with four companies displaying their systems. ACV is intended as a replacement for the Amphibious Assault Vehicle and replaces the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle program cancelled in 2011. Phase I plans to purchase COTS wheeled vehicles which can be brought ashore using LCACs. Eventually, phase II will result in an actual amphibious armored vehicle that can come ashore under its own steam from the do well of an amphibious assault ship.
Such a vehicle would be good for picking up girls in Minsk.
Perhaps the EM50 is what the Marines should really be looking at.
Having people in the photos gives an idea of scale. These aren’t small.
Hahahaha.
Yeah these are fooken massiv, and I thought the ASLAV was large.
You can literally stand erect inside the SAIC version. Well, short guys anyway.
Hell yeah! XD
These will be great for up-armored Duck Boat tours.
No Cadillac Gage submission?
Jon, OPT
So Phase 1 of the Amphibious Combat Vehicle program is to NOT purchase amphibious combat vehicles? This is why you can’t have nice things.
Basically
What were the actual requirements this was designed to meet, particularly troop capacity?
It looks to me that Phase 1= LAV-25. Am I missing something here? Isn’t this just another project wasting our tax dollars, or is the Corps looking to replace the -25s too?
These are massive compared to a LAV.
The LAVs are going to stay and are currently undergoing a fleet-wide tuneup.
Roger. Thanks brother.
I know very little about armor so help me out here: do wheels still make sense on an armored vehicle of this size? It’s like they took a striker and scaled it up 150%
Tracks fell out of favor for a reason… IIRC WeaponsMan.Com did a very informative article on why, not too long ago. Also those wheels are massive as well, so there won’t be many issues.
The .50 on top really puts those into perspective, they look like 240’s.
Link for that? Because the best argument I’ve heard is hat you need a vehicle fleet that has room for both tracked and wheeled vehicles for different jobs.
Tracks fell out of favor because of changes in mentality from off-road centric, infantry transportability in European conditions to operations more centered around roads and hardened ground.
Wheeled vehicles also have higher silohettes and ground pressures than tracked vehicles as well.
It’s all fun and games until you can’t get anywhere.
The Wiesel 2 looks like a cricket next to those things!
Why does everything just keep getting bigger and more expensive?
It has to do with the nature of the beast. They need a Sea State 2+ sea keeping ability, acceptable water speed which dictates a hull/suspension configuration that allows as large an amount of undisturbed water as possible to reach the propellers, plus perform the role of IFV. All of those things mean one BIG vehicle.
size might be due to the fear the usmc might be told to put both male and female restrooms on board….
Phase I is put them on LCAC’s? So the corps is sacrificing amphibious tractors in favor of the new LCAC replacement with tracked flippers (which admittedly is a cool concept). With non-amphibious capable vehicles they’ll have a far more compelling argument for buying LCAC replacements and more of them since nothing else can get ashore.
I always thought the EFV was a bridge too far. I sat in the mockup once and thought God help the Marines who are crammed in to this thing. Plus, having Marines navigate 25 miles (or more) of open ocean seemed a pretty tall order. But I’ve got to give credit to GD for getting that beast up on plane. Very impressive engineering.
We’ll aren’t they cute. That beach had better not be too well defended. Those are nice targets for anti armour systems and once they are out of the water…
Not a problem a few tons of passive/reactive armor/RPG cages can’t solve! (I can’t see any problem with this whatsoever…)
Sarcasm?
😉
Ummmmmm yeah. Definitely not an LAV.
I wonder if the Corps is actually asking for recessed lights. Those are generally way more prone to failure from condensation, and it’s also a pain in the butt to replace bulbs. Almost every vehicle and truck in the military uses externally mounted lights.