As US Marine Corps Moves to the ACV, Taiwan Wants More AAVs

choi

(1) Shawn Snow, As the Corps Moves to the ACV, Taiwan Wants More AAVs. Marine Corps Times, June 26, 2018
https://www.marinecorpstimes.com ... an-wants-more-aavs/

Quote:

"The [US] Corps is slowly phasing out its Assault Amphibious Vehicles, but the Cold War-era vehicle is still finding buyers across the globe

"On June 22, the Defense Department announced a contract award for $83,629,301 to BAE Systems Land & Armaments to build 36 AAVs

"Taiwan acquired its first 54 AAVs in 2005 during the George W Bush administration, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.

Note: The $1.83 billion arms package to Taiwan approved on Dec 16, 2015 included "36 AAV-7 Assault Amphibious Vehicles."

(2) Jen Judson, Marine Corps Nearing Contract Award for New Amphibious Combat Vehicle. Defense News, Apr 9, 2018.
https://www.defensenews.com/digi ... ous-combat-vehicle/

Quote:

"The Marine Corps is nearing a decision on whether BAE Systems or SAIC will build its new Amphibious Combat Vehicle, having just wrapped up operational tests of prototypes a week ago.

"The Marine Corps awarded both BAE and SAIC roughly $100 million each in December 2015 to build 16 prototypes for the service to test.  The Marines plan to field 204 of the vehicles by 2020.

"Some of the features BAE believes are particularly attractive for a new ACV is that it has space for 13 embarked Marines and a crew of three, which keeps the [13-person] rifle squad together. The engine’s strength is 690 horsepower over the old engine’s 560 horsepower, and it runs extremely quietly. The vehicle has a V-shaped hull to protect against underbody blasts, and the seat structure is completely suspended.

Note:
(a) As of today, no selection has been announced.
(b) Both US Army and Marine Corps have rifle squad, with different mission and composition (firearms and number of persons).
(c) "In the United States Marine Corps, a rifle squad is usually composed of three fireteams of four Marines each and a squad leader who is typically a sergeant or corporal. " en.wikipedia.org for "squad."
(d) fireteam
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireteam
(section 2 National variations, section 2.4 United States: (photo) when in a column: Rifleman acts as a scout; Team Leader with M203 grenade launcher works as grenadier; Automatic Riflemanwith M249 light machine gun or M27 IAR (standing for "Infantry Automatic Rifle") serves as second in command for the fireteam; and Assistant Automatic Rifleman)
(e) View photos only in the following, not least because they are prototypes.
(i) Amphibious Combat Vehicle 1.1. BAE Systems, undated.
https://www.baesystems.com/en-us ... ious-combat-vehicle
(ii) ACV 1.1: From Ship to Shore. SAIC, undated.
www.saic.com/about/about-saic/feature-stories/acv-11/

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) was created in 1969 and is based in Reston, Virginia (ten-mile air distance wset of Washington, DC).