NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – The Marine Corps is considering alternative concepts of operations for amphibious landings as its future force begins to take shape: the service expects to award a contract for its Assault Amphibious Vehicle upgrades soon and issue a request for information on its newly restructured Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) this summer.
The new ACV approach–in which the service will buy an initial 200 Increment 1.1 vehicles and later 490 Increment 1.2 vehicles with different variants of weapons and communications packages–revolves around a slow water speed, wheeled platform rather than a high water speed, tracked platform as originally envisioned, Brig. Gen. William Mullen, director of the Marine Corps’ capabilities development directorate, said at the Navy League’s annual Sea Air Space conference this week.
Given the water speed of the vehicle and the fact that the first wave of Marines could be coming in from 65 miles away from shore or farther, finding a good surface connector will be the key to amphibious movement to the shore, he said.
Mullen called the new ACV program a “family of systems” because of the reliance on connectors but said the Marine Corps could not alter the Navy’s existing plans for the Ship-to-Shore Connector or the service life extension plans for the Landing Craft Air Cushions (LCACs) and Landing Craft Utilities (LCUs).
This reliance on connectors but pledge to not change programs of record means getting creative: Mullen said the Marines already hosted a connector summit with industry and Navy and Marine Corps officials to discuss some early concepts. The next step is to publish a broad area announcement once the Marines decide what technologies they might be interested in.
One near-term solution being kicked around would be using the Joint High Speed Vessel program to ferry ACVs towards the shore before dropping them off 12 miles out, Mullen offered as one hypothetical scenario. To do that, the JHSV would need a specialized ramp with a floatation device on the end so the ACVs could drive down the ramp and into the water for their swim ashore. That ramp is being worked on now, he said.
In the longer term, Mullen said the Marine Corps was eyeing the Ultra Heavy Amphibious Connector. A half-scale prototype suggests it would lift as much as the LCUs and travel at two-thirds the speed of an LCAC, a combination that “is pretty good in our book,” he said.
As for the ACV itself, the Marine Corps will release requests for information in the early summer and potentially host an industry day mid-summer to help finalize its requirements, ACV program spokesman Manny Pacheco told
Defense Daily at the conference. Marines tested four industry designs of the Mobile Landing Platform–which was cut but is essentially back as ACV Increment 1.1–but the service is already considering a few small changes.
For example, most of the MPCs held nine passengers with a one- to two-day supply; Marine Corps officials are considering adding more space for people and supplies in the back, Pacheco said. The service has also been looking into a remotely controlled unmanned turret for the ACV and other vehicles, so that idea could work its way into the ACV plans.
Ultimately, Pacheco said, some of the vehicle details are hinging on the concept of operations, which is still being worked on. The legacy AAVs ferry Marines ashore and then drop out of the fight, but “under the new modified construct under [Expeditionary Force 21], in addition to being something that gets the Marines ashore to the fight, it becomes part of the fight.”
As the ACV comes together, the same office is also upgrading the legacy AAVs. Pacheco said his office is in source selection right now for the upgrade effort and expects to award a contract soon for 392, though the number could be lower. Mullen also said the Marines may consider upgrading fewer vehicles if the savings could help get ACV Increment 1.1 to the fleet faster.