Marine Corps Politics. Defending vacillation, indecision & deception on the Amphibious Combat Vehicle.

via DVIDS (in its entirety).

FORT MEADE, Md. - Combat-development and integration officials and technological experts are looking to ever-evolving advancements in technology to enhance the Corps’ ability to conduct amphibious operations in the 21st century.

These plans include procuring the right ship-to-shore connectors for amphibious operations and improving armored ground mobility so infantry units can close on an objective from the sea with greater protection and lethality.

The air cushioned landing craft, the LCAC, will be eventually be replaced with the Ship to Shore Connector (SSC), a more capable air cushioned craft. A potential vehicle being explored is the Ultra-Heavy Amphibious Connector (UHAC), which operates on water and land with captive air cell treads. A half-scale model is undergoing testing and a full sized version has the potential to lift three times as much as the SSC with a range of over 200 nautical miles. The Corps is also seeking ideas from industry to develop a family of systems capable of delivering heavy loads, such as several main battle tanks, as well as smaller loads such as an armored combat vehicle, from amphibious ships to shore at distances of over 100 nautical miles and at speeds of up to 25 knots.

To tackle the problem of mobility once close to shore and inland, the Corps is also developing a wheeled amphibious combat vehicle that, once ashore, can move Marines to their objectives with greater speed, lethality and protection than the Corps’ current tracked Amphibious Assault Vehicle.

“The ACV’s ability to operate in loose sand, snow, mud, and (its) ability to climb grades will be superior to the current AAV,” said Col. Christopher Woodbridge, the Corps’ lead for the Ground Combat /Tactical Vehicle Strategy planning team.

Along with better mobility and vehicle suspension than the tracked vehicle, the wheeled ACV has the ability to move out of a kill zone even after losing a wheel to a blast.

“One of the things we found in Iraq and Afghanistan was that our (seven-ton tactical trucks), which weren’t specifically built for IEDs, did much better than our other vehicles because it had such higher ground clearance,” said Brig. Gen. William Mullen, director, Capabilities Development Directorate, in a video interview published in April 2014.

“It’s going to be lethal, more lethal. It’s going to be faster; the troops inside are going to be better protected. That’s why we are going after the ACV.”

According to Woodbridge, the Corps can expect to see fielded ACVs in 2017, with an initial operating capability in 2020. Until the ACVs are fielded, the Corps plans to sustain and upgrade a number of its tracked AAVs. This upgrade program will extend the AAV’s service life through 2035.

This article hit today.

What you're seeing is a Commandant attempting to salvage his legacy.  He's had many failures but for some Marines they don't want to wade into the politically sensitive areas that is causing friction.

So the focus becomes his lavish spending on the Air Wing, and his failure to solve the AAV replacement problem.

Consider it internal Marine Corps politics.

The guy is hated but no one wants the backlash from speaking frankly so they instead focus on his vacillation, indecision and deception with the ACV program.

Oh and make no mistake about it.

The guy has jerked the program around so hard that its a joke....the USMC procurement system is now a joke in the Defense Department.

Why do I say that?  Simple.  Consider the trajectory of this program.  When Amos arrived the EFV had been cancelled and he appeared before Congress and said that before he left office he would be driving one of the vehicles.  Hyperbole?  Perhaps, but it was also a promise of speed, decisiveness and determination to get this program moving.

What happened.

First we got extended studies.  The ACV program office crunched numbers, he sent them back to do it again all the while claiming that they only had one chance to get it right.  Then he outright cancels the Marine Personnel Carrier program and stated that it would be resurrected in about 10 years.  Later we get this obscene renaming of the MPC into the ACV 1.1 with a tracked 1.2 to be built later and a mad scramble to get the funding in the 2015 budget to get money to prime industry to pick up a program they all dropped.

So where are we today?

Supposedly the industry is going to be briefed on the program so that they can get vehicles ready for this new competition!  Instead of using data already collected in tests already performed they're starting a new comp!

Amos has lied, vacillated, been deceptive and showed so much indecision that if he was in OCS he would wash out.  Don't be fooled by this.  Dunford will have to fix what Amos ignored.

NOTE:  The elephant in the room....the thing that no one wants to admit or even look at is the F-35.  Google Marine Corps procurement train wreck and how the F-35 has destroyed everything.  Saving the F-35 has put Marines lives in danger.  Till 2035 they will be riding in elderly vehicles that are older than their grandparents.