First BAE ACV rolls out to US Marines

Land December 16, 2016

The first of 16 Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACV) developed by BAE Systems has been received by the US Marine Corps.

The vehicle was handed over at a ceremony this week at BAE’s York, Pennsylvania facility, and provides the Marines with a fully amphibious, ship-launchable & recoverable, 8×8 wheeled combat vehicle.

As a trusted supplier to the Marine Corps, BAE Systems has more than 70 years of experience designing and building amphibious vehicles. The company was awarded the $103.7M contract for the Engineering, Manufacturing, and Development (EMD) phase of the vehicles in November 2015,as one of two contracts issued. Some 16 prototypes are being developed for testing by the Marine Corps in 2017.

The solution proposed by BAE Systems uses an existing platform provided by Iveco Defence Vehicles, which is highly effective at sea in comparison with other amphibious vehicle. The ACV provides superior land mobility and state-of-the-art systems survivability, thus balancing the need for an affordable, production-ready platform, but with improved design and performance.

With a robust 700HP engine, providing a significant power increase over the current Assault Amphibious Vehicle, the ACV excels in all-terrain mobility and has a suspended interior seat structure for 13 embarked Marines, blast protected positions for an additional crew of three, and improved survivability and force protection over currently fielded systems.

John Swift, BAE’s director for the ACV 1.1 program said: “BAE Systems has a long-standing legacy of supporting the Marine Corps’ amphibious mission.

“That expertise, coupled with the hard work of our dedicated ACV team, has allowed us to deliver the first of these vehicles ahead of schedule.

“As the Marine Corps begins testing we are confident that the capabilities of these vehicles will be proven,”