The Marine Corps is accepting delivery of its first new Amphibious Combat Vehicle that can fire stabilized weapons, maneuver in littoral areas and launch faster, more survivable ship-to-shore amphibious attacks from beyond-the-horizon.Referred to by Corps developers as ACV 1.1, the new vehicle is engineered to replace the services current inventory of Amphibious Assault Vehicles, or AAVsin service for decades. There is an existing effort to upgrade a portion of its fleet of AAVs to a more survivable variant with spall liner and other protection-improving adjustments such as added armor.Nevertheless, despite the enhancements of the AAV Survivability Upgrade, or AAV SU, the Corps is clear that it needs a new vehicle to address emerging threats, Kurt Mullins, ACV 1.1 Product Manager, told Scout Warrior in an interview.ACV 1.1 gives us the ability to operate throughout the range of operations. The current AAV is limited because of its survivability. The new vehicle will be significantly more survivable than a standard AAV, Mullins said.The Corps is now in the process of acquiring a number of Engineering, Manufacturing & Development vehicles for further testing and evaluation from two vendorsSAIC and BAE Systems. Mullins said the Marine Corps plans to down-select to one manufacturer by 2018 and have an operational new ACV 1.1 by 2020.Marine Corps fleet plans call for more than 200 of the new vehicles to support attacking infantry battalions. They are building both personnel and recovery variants, he explained.The ACV 1.1 will serve alongside and improve upon the upgraded portion of the existing AAV fleet. The Marines have operated a fleet of more than 1,000 AAVs over the years ; some will sunset and others will receive the survivability upgrade.Stabilized .50-cal machine guns and Mk 19 grenade launchers will make the new ACV for lethal and accurate in attacks against enemies; engineers are building in an up-gunned weapons station operating with Common Remotely Operated Weapons Systems, or CROWS, able to allow attackers to fire weapons from beneath the protection of the vehicles armor.Unlike the tracked AAVs, the new ACV 1.1 is a wheeled vehicle designed for better traction on land and operations involving enter and egress from Amphib ships.Wheeled vehicles are more reliable, when operating across the range of military operations."Given that the new vehicle is being built for both maritime and land combat operations, requirements for the emerging platform specify that the platform needs to be better equipped to defend against more recent threats such as IEDs and roadside bombs. This, at least according to BAEs offering, includes the construction of a V shaped hull in order to increase the vehicles ground clearance and deflect blast debris away from the crew compartment.It needs to be able to provide significant armor and stand-off distance from the ground to the bottom of the hull, Mullins added.An ability to better withstand emerging threats and new weapons likely to be used by enemies is said to be of crucial importance in todays evolving global environment; enemies now have longer-range, more precise weapons and high-tech sensors able to find and target vehicles from much further distances.Accordingly, emerging Marine Corps amphibious warfare strategy calls for an ability to disaggregate and spread approaching amphibious vehicles apart as necessary to make the much more difficult for enemies to target. They are also being engineered operate more successfully in ground combat environments wherein approach vehicles need to advance much further in from the shoreline.The new ACVs are also being designed to work seamlessly with longer-range, more high-tech US Navy and Army weapons as well. As US Navy weapons and sensors operate with a vastly improved ability to detect and destroy enemy targetson land and in maritime scenariosamphibious assault strategy will adjust accordingly.BAE Systems ACV 1.1The first BAE Systems ACV 1.1 vehicle has been delivered to the Marine Corps for additional assessment and testing, company officials said.In a special interview with Scout Warrior, BAE weapons and platform developers explained that their offering includes a number of innovations designed to best position the vehicle for future combat.BAEs emerging vehicle uses no axl but rather integrates a gear box for each wheel station, designed for better traction and mission such as driving up onto an amphibious vehicle or rigorous terrain on land.It has positive drive to each of the wheel stations so you dont have gear slippage and have positive traction at all times. All eight wheels are driven at the same time, Swift said.The absence of an axl means engineers can create greater depth for the vehicles V-shaped hull, he added.Their vehicle is built with a 690-horsepower engine, composite armor materials and can travel up to 12 nautical miles with a crew of 13; also, the BAE ACV 1.1 can travel 55mph on land, and six mph in the water, BAE developers said.Blast attenuated seats where seat frames are suspended from the ceiling are another design feature aimed at further protecting Marines from attacks involving explosions underneath the vehicle.Fuel tanks on the new ACV 1.1 are stored on the outside of the vehicle as part of a method of reducing damage to the crew and vehicle interior in the event of an attack.Finally, like many emerging platforms these days, BAEs offering is being engineered with an often-used term called open architecturemeaning it is built for growth such that it can embrace and better integrate new technologies as they emerge.The Marine Corps awarded BAE a $103 million deal in November of last year; the company has delivered its first of 16 prototypes planned to additional testing.The Marine Corps' Future of Amphibious AttackThe Marine Corps future plan for amphibious assault craft consists of a nuanced and multi-faceted plan involving the production of several more vehicles. Following the ACV 1.1, the Corps plans to engineer and produce a new ACV 1.2 variant with increased combat and technical mission abilities.We are working on requirements for ACV 1.2, which will be informed by our ACV 1.1 experience, Mullins said.However, this next ACV 1.2 will merely serve as an interim solution until much faster water-speed technology comes to fruition, a development expected in coming years.Meanwhile, Corps weapons developers from the advanced Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory are already in the early phases of preparation for when that much faster water speed exists. A future mission ability or vehicle of this kind, to be operational by 2023, could involve a number of different possible platform solutions, Mullins explained.Some sort of high-water speed capability that may not be a single vehicle solution. It could be a high-water speed connector that gets that vehicle to shore, he said.Amphibious Assault Vehicle Survivability UpgradeThe Marine Corps is revving up its fleet of 1970s-era Amphibious Assault Vehicles to integrate the latest technology and make them better able to stop roadside-bombs and other kinds of enemy attacks, service officials said.The existing fleet, which is designed to execute a wide range of amphibious attack missions from ship-to-shore, is now receiving new side armor (called spall liner), suspension, power trains, engine upgrades, water jets, underbelly ballistic protections and blast-mitigating seats to slow down or thwart the damage from IEDs and roadside bombs, Maj. Paul Rivera, AAV SU Project Team Lead, told Scout Warrior.The purpose of this variant is to bring back survivability and force protection back to the AAV P-variant (existing vehicle), he said.The classic AAV, armed with a .50-cal machine gun and 40mm grenade launcher, is being given new technology so that it can serve in the Corps fleet for several more decades.The AAV was originally expected to serve for only 20-years when it fielded in 1972. Here we are in 2016. In effect we want to keep these around until 2035, John Garner, Program Manager for Advanced Amphibious Assault, said in an interview with Scout Warrior last year.The new AAV, called AAV SU for survivability upgrade, will be more than 10,000 pounds heavier than its predecessor and include a new suspension able to lift the hull of the vehicle higher off the ground to better safeguard Marines inside from being hit by blast debris. With greater ground clearance, debris from an explosion has farther to travel, therefore lessening the impact upon those hit by the attack.The AAV SU will be about 70,000 pounds when fully combat loaded, compared to the 58,000-pound weight of the current AAV.By increasing the weight you have a secondary and tertiary effects which better protect Marines. We are also bringing in a new power train, new suspension and new water jets for water mobility, Rivera said.A new, stronger transmission for the AAV SU will integrate with a more powerful 625 HP Cummins engine, he added.The original AAV is engineered to travel five-to-six knots in the water, reach distances up to 12 nautical miles and hit speeds of 45mph on landa speed designed to allow the vehicle to keep up with an Abrams tank, Corps officials said.In addition, the new AAV SU will reach an acquisition benchmark called Milestone C in the Spring of next year. This will begin paving the way toward full-rate production by 2023, Rivera explained.The new waterjet will bring more speed to the platform, Rivera added.The old legacy water jet comes from a sewage pump. That sewage pump was designed to do sewage and not necessarily project a vehicle through the water. The new waterjet uses an axial flow, Rivera said.The new, more flexible blast-mitigating seats are deigned to prevent Marines feet from resting directly on the floor in order to prevent them from being injured from an underbelly IED blast.It is not just surviving the blast and making sure Marines arent killed, we are really focusing on those lower extremities and making sure they are walking away from the actual event, Rivera said.The seat is engineered with a measure of elasticity such that it can respond differently, depending on the severity of a blast.If its a high-intensity blast, the seat will activate in accordance with the blast. Each blast is different. As the blast gets bigger the blast is able to adjust, Rivera said.In total, the Marines plan to upgrade roughly one-third of their fleet of more than 900 AAVs.The idea with Amphibious Assault Vehicles, known for famous historical attacks such as Iwo Jima in WWII (using earlier versions), is to project power from the sea by moving deadly combat forces through the water and up onto land where they can launch attacks, secure a beachhead or reinforce existing land forces.Often deploying from an Amphibious Assault Ship, AAVs swim alongside Landing Craft Air Cushions which can transport larger numbers of Marines and land war equipment -- such as artillery and battle tanks.AAVs can also be used for humanitarian missions in places where, for example, ports might be damaged an unable to accommodate larger ships.SEE ALSO:Mesmerizing time lapse footage of sunset at the Boneyard ' where Air Force planes go to dieJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: These are the secretive 18-wheelers the US government uses to transport nukes on America's roads
Click here to read full news..
