Photo: BAE Systems
The nature of the job requires the United States Marine Corps (USMC) to perform amphibious combat missions. To do that, it of course needs specialized equipment, including vehicles that can be driven on land, but would have no problem floating on water either.
These vehicles cannot be bought off the shelf, of course, and have to be developed specifically for the envisioned tasks. After cancelling the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) program in 2011, the USMC launched the Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) for precisely this purpose.
The first vehicles spawned by the program are already in use, in the form of Iveco-BAE Systems produced machines, including the ACV personnel and ACV command variants. A 30mm cannon ACV has already been ordered by the USMC, and this week BAE Systems announced it got a contract for another version.
In exchange for closer to $35 million, the defense contractor will have to come up, over the next 20 months, with the design for the recovery variant, called ACV-R. This combat vehicle will be used by the USMC as a replacement for the outgoing Assault Amphibious Vehicle recovery variant (AAVR7A1).
After the 20 months would have passed, and if the design is to the USMC liking, BAE Systems will have to create a test vehicle for evaluation. If it passes that, it should enter production, and get deployed on the field for “support, maintenance, and recovery to the ACV family of vehicles.”
“The recovery variant will provide crucial recovery capability in the amphibious fleet,” said in a statement John Swift, vice president of amphibious programs at BAE Systems. “It also expands the ACV family of vehicles and demonstrates the base vehicle’s proven design, allowing it to be seamlessly integrated into the fleet without compromising performance.”
Separately, BAE Systems says the USMC asked it to look into ways to incorporate “advanced reconnaissance, command, control, communication and computers/unmanned aerial systems mission payload into an ACV variant.”
The first vehicles spawned by the program are already in use, in the form of Iveco-BAE Systems produced machines, including the ACV personnel and ACV command variants. A 30mm cannon ACV has already been ordered by the USMC, and this week BAE Systems announced it got a contract for another version.
In exchange for closer to $35 million, the defense contractor will have to come up, over the next 20 months, with the design for the recovery variant, called ACV-R. This combat vehicle will be used by the USMC as a replacement for the outgoing Assault Amphibious Vehicle recovery variant (AAVR7A1).
After the 20 months would have passed, and if the design is to the USMC liking, BAE Systems will have to create a test vehicle for evaluation. If it passes that, it should enter production, and get deployed on the field for “support, maintenance, and recovery to the ACV family of vehicles.”
“The recovery variant will provide crucial recovery capability in the amphibious fleet,” said in a statement John Swift, vice president of amphibious programs at BAE Systems. “It also expands the ACV family of vehicles and demonstrates the base vehicle’s proven design, allowing it to be seamlessly integrated into the fleet without compromising performance.”
Separately, BAE Systems says the USMC asked it to look into ways to incorporate “advanced reconnaissance, command, control, communication and computers/unmanned aerial systems mission payload into an ACV variant.”
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