The U.S. Marine Corps has reached a critical milestone in testing the operational capabilities of its new amphibious combat vehicles (ACVs) during their first deployment, this time from a ship rather than land.
The deployment, part of the Balikatan exercises in the Philippines, not only demonstrates the ACVs’ combat readiness but also presents a unique opportunity to learn valuable lessons in maintaining and operating the fleet from a maritime platform.
The ACVs, which are set to replace the dated amphibious assault vehicles, saw action with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s Amphibious Combat Vehicles Platoon conducting a live-fire, waterborne gunnery range exercise.
This event marked the ACVs’ first operational use in an overseas environment since their introduction.
Program Executive Officer for Land Systems, Stephen Bowdren, emphasized the significance of this deployment.
He stating, “Performing repairs and routine care from the well deck of an amphibious ship raises a whole other set of challenges for the Marines.”
The drills also tested the service’s ability to predict and supply the parts that would be in demand during normal operations.
“So we’re going to gain a lot of great information on how that goes,” Bowdren said.
The Readiness Control Board, established by the Corps, is tasked with studying the lessons learned from the ACV’s maintenance, training, and any other aspects affecting readiness.
Findings from these studies could lead to engineering change proposals that might alter the production of future ACVs.
BAE Systems was contracted by the Marine Corps to create and manufacture four different models of the vehicle.
The personnel and command-and-control variants are currently being produced, while the ACV 30mm cannon variant is undergoing testing.
The design and development phase of the ACV recovery vehicle has already been finalized, as stated by BAE Systems.
Discussing the project, Bowdren mentioned that the variants share approximately 80% of their components.
Consequently, based on the insights gained during the current deployment, the program office may decide to limit modifications to solely the personnel variant or opt for changes across the entire class during production.
Relevant articles:
– Amphibious combat vehicle’s first deployment may yield repair lessons, yahoo.com
– Amphibious combat vehicle’s first deployment may yield repair lessons, Defense News
– Marines’ New Amphibious Combat Vehicle Makes Operational Debut in Annual Philippines Exercise, Military.com
– Amphibious Combat Vehicles Mark Operational Debut in Pacific, Seapower