Amphibious Combat Vehicle background report for Congress...

The background report on the ACV is out and you can read it all here.  What follows is what I think is one of the most important parts of the report.  How did we get to a point where ACV 1.1 and 1.2 were merged and how/when will a decision be made to move forward with ACV 2.0.  Check it out...

ACV 1.1 and ACV 1.2 Consolidated 

On April 10, 2019, during testimony to the Subcommittee on Seapower of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Navy and Marine Corps leadership noted During the fall of 2018, ACV 1.1 prototypes demonstrated satisfactory water mobility performance in high surf conditions, and in doing so met the full water mobility transition requirement for ACV 1.2 capability. Subsequently, the Milestone Decision Authority Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN (RD&A)) approved the consolidation of increments one and two into a single program to enable continuous production of ACVs to completely replace the AAV. The next key acquisition event is the Full Rate Production decision scheduled for the third quarter of FY 2020 following Initial Operational Test & Evaluation. ACV remains on schedule to achieve Initial Operational Capability in the fourth quarter of FY 2020. With the consolidation of ACV variants into a single variant, there will likely be a number of programmatic changes and potential ramifications for the ACV and

ACV 2.0 programs. 

Reportedly, the Marines plan to develop an ACV 2.0, capable of carrying 10 to 13 Marines plus crew, capable of high water speeds and deployment from ships far from the coast. ACV 2.0 is planned to be capable of operating on land alongside tanks and light armored vehicles. According to the Marines ACV 2.0 serves as a conceptual placeholder for a future Decision Point (~ 2025, or sooner) at which time knowledge gained in the fielding and employment of the first phase of ACV (1.1 and 1.2), the state of the naval connector strategy, and science & technology work towards a high water speed capable self-deploying vehicle will support an informed decision.46

Read the report but the above highlighted and enlarged text is clear.  First the ACV DOES MEET requirements to replace the AAV.

It would have been awesome if the Marine Corps provided the public with images and video of the testing in various conditions but we will just have to trust that they got this right.

The ACV is the rig we're gonna be riding into the future.  Full stop.  Nothing else to add to that section.

The next part that needs to be discussed is the decision point by 2025 with regard to a high speed amphibious assault vehicle that can swim fast, keep up with an M1A1 Abrams over broken ground, provide at least equal protection of the ACV and PROTECT AGAINST IEDs.

That's a high mark.

While the Japanese are laboring hard and I'm sure there are Marine Corps observers and possible even team ups with US corporations going on, I just don't see that as a possibility.

We tried with the EFV.

While many falsely slam that vehicle, the reality is that without the ongoing wars in the Middle East, we'd be using that vehicle today.

IEDs changed everything.

Long story short?

Repeating myself but I believe that the ACV will be our rig into the foreseeable future.

Where does that leave us?  Time to develop fully the family of vehicles so that we're not caught using MTVRs to transport our Infantry Battalions in the next mechanized war.

We need to go fully tilt.  Mortar Carrier, Recovery Vehicle, Logistics Vehicle, Assault Gun, Medical Vehicle, NBC Vehicle etc....We had over 1000 AAVs.  By my count we will need at least 700 ACV to properly equip our Fleet Marine Force.