The capabilities the companies described as part of the ICS are similar to what Pentagon officials have said is needed for Joint All Domain Command and Control.
By Justin KatzThe service’s investigations found “significant differences between the safe operating procedures of the ACV and its predecessor, the Assault Amphibious Vehicle,” according to a Marine Corps statement.
By Justin KatzThe Marine Corps has stopped and restarted waterborne ACV operations over the past two years due to various training incidents.
By Justin KatzThe $153 million contract brings the Marine Corps investment in the BAE-made Amphibious Combat Vehicle to more than $2 billion.
By Justin KatzGeneral Dynamics Land Systems and Textron Systems are in a head-to-head competition with nearly $7 billion on the line.
By Justin KatzThe initial contract announced today was just $198 million for the first 30 vehicles, to be delivered by next fall, but Marines want to replace approximately 870 existing AAVs with better-protected, more mobile ACVs “as rapidly as we can,” which will take into “the mid to late ’20s.”
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.ANNAPOLIS: Small, fast missile boats clear a path through coastal waters for Marine landing forces. Robot jet skis, surfboards, and mini-subs scout out landing sites ahead of the human force. High-speed landing craft carry troops, their gear, and vehicles to the beach. Those are some of the ideas the Marines are experimenting with as…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.UPDATED: Adds GAO rebuttal WASHINGTON: The latest GAO report on the Amphibious Combat Vehicle may reveal more problems with GAO’s approach than with the Marine Corps program. While the Government Accountability Office does its usual solid work on the numbers, when it recommends delaying production by four months to do additional testing, it’s acting from an excess…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.An upstart odd couple has challenged armored vehicle giant BAE for the right to build the Marine Corps’ swimming tank. One is Singapore’s ST Kinetics, maker of the Singapore Armed Forces‘ amphibious Terrex vehicle. The other is McLean, Va.-based SAIC, best known as a service contractor, which is working with the Singaporeans to build a…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOl_JOesU54 The first Marines to hit the beach in future wars may well be robots. Flying, swimming, rolling and swarming, the unmanned advance guard will scout out enemy positions, neutralize mines and send out decoy transmissions to deceive the enemy. Then the humans will start to come ashore. First handfuls of SEALs and Marine Force…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.After years of prototype testing, canceled programs, and rewritten requirements, contractor BAE Systems has unveiled the first production model of its 34-ton, eight-wheel-drive Amphibious Combat Vehicle at the Modern Day Marine show. BAE and SAIC are competing to replace the Marine Corps’ aging, ungainly, and thinly armored Amphibious Assault Vehicles. The AAVs are huge tracked machines…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.The Marine Corps chose BAE and SAIC from a field of five competitors to build competing prototypes for the long-awaited Amphibious Combat Vehicle. BAE, a dominant player in tracked armored vehicles, had teamed with Italian armsmaker Iveco to offer a variant of the Italians’ wheeled SuperAV. SAIC, best known as a consulting firm, offered a variant of the Singaporean Terrex.…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.CAPITOL HILL: UPDATE BEGINS The administration’s nominee for Marine Corps Commandant, Lt. Gen. Bob Neller, set off a firestorm from Sen. John McCain this morning. After two hours of an otherwise congenial confirmation hearing, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman erupted over Neller’s description of the current administration strategy against the Islamic State. That strategy relies on airpower and advisors…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.