The evolution of the Terrex 2 Amphibious Combat Vehicle.

The Terrex 2 ACV has seen a bit of an evolution since the contest began...

Above you see the rig as it was first presented to the public by SAIC and Singapore Kinetics.  What is the difference from the version operated by the Singapore Army?  From what I can tell just an enlarged swim vane.

At this point in the contest the requirement was for "limited" ability to swim from ship to shore and the Marine Corps was still emphasizing inland waterway mobility.  That would soon change and the offer of manufacturers being able to gain "extra credit" for achieving ACV 1.2 (the actual requirement to swim from ship to shore) pushed them to revise the vehicle.

That was a blow to BAE and IVECO since their offering was made from the
start to replace the AAV completely.  Below you see the "updated" Terrex 2 ACV.

What I find confusing is that Singapore Kinetics offered a "Terrex 3" for the Australian CRV. As you can see below it offers the same general layout as the Terrex 2 ACV (which is different from the Terrex 2 operated by Singapore) and appears to differ only in the weapons fit.

While the Terrex 3 didn't make the finalist list with the Aussies, if they should happen to win the ACV competition then the fact that its been demo'ed with a large caliber cannon is refreshing.  It's ready out of the box to be made into a family of vehicles.

Side note.  What is up with the nomenclature they're giving these vehicles?  Terrex 2 covers three different vehicles?  The Singapore version, the original US ACV version and also the updated version, and yet the version offered to the Aussies is called Terrex 3 which also shares the body style of the updated Terrex 2 ACV?  Clean this up Singapore Kinetics!!!!

Either way this goes I'm encouraged.  Its taken far too long, but at the end of the day our Marines will get a vehicle (Terrex 2 or Super AV) that provides the protected transport and hopefully (after its funded) lethality that they deserve and the nation needs.