Beach Assault 2.0
Marines look to EFV for next generation in amphibious landings
By DANIEL P. TAYLOR, Special Correspondent
Debut This Decade
Moore said the EFV will provide a
huge upgrade over the AAV, particularly when it comes to firepower.
The EFV personnel version will have
a high-tech weapons station and an
Mk44 cannon, an improvement over
the .50-caliber gun the AAV sports.
The crew of the command variant
will be fully equipped with computers and communication systems.
Although the EFV carries fewer
Marines than an AAV — 17 for the
former and 25 for the latter — it will
have greater range and a more
diverse set of targets it can attack.
“It increases the total target set
that can be engaged by the platform,
The vehicle is also more robust and sturdy, allowing
it to handle terrain and water better, which is helpful
considering it may have to travel as far as 25 miles
from ship to shore.
“It isolates Marines a lot more from just basic shock
and vibration in just moving [a] combat vehicle over
terrain,” Moore said. “It also has an environmental
control system able to moderate temperatures to oper-
ate in either hot or cold extremes.”
Armor protection for EFV offers “substantially bet-
ter survivability,” he said, reducing the likelihood of
system failures that could cripple the vehicle.
One of the biggest challenges to designing the vehicle
was to make it able to handle its amphibious nature.
“Some of the big challenges are because of the unique
environment,” Moore said. It is difficult to design a platform that is meant for driving on land, deploying by
ship and being able to “effectively move through a surf
zone, to move at high-water speed, 20-25 knots, over
significant ranges of water,” he added.
The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) is expected to be a huge
upgrade from the Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV) it is intended
to replace.
■ The EFV personnel version will have a high-tech weapons station and an Mk44 cannon, an improvement over the AAV’s .50-
caliber gun.
■ The EFV also will have greater range and a more diverse set
of targets it can attack.
■ Armor protection for the EFV offers “substantially better survivability” than other systems.
The Marines can see the light at the end of the development tunnel for the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), which is expected to
make its debut later this decade as the amphibious
assault platform of the future. The vehicle represents the
long-awaited full-scale upgrade to the Corps’ expeditionary ground force as the Assault Amphibious Vehicle
(AAV) fleet, introduced in the 1970s, leaves service.
Earlier this year, the government took delivery of
the first of seven EFV prototypes under contract with
manufacturer General Dynamics Land Systems,
Sterling Heights, Mich., and the rest will be delivered
by year’s end. The prototypes represent the initial
stages of a program of record involving 573 vehicles
that will, along with the Marine Personnel Carrier,
replace the AAV fleet beginning in the mid-2010s
when the EFV starts entering service, according to
Col. Keith Moore, program manager for advanced
amphibious assault.
“The program is continuing to move along as it was
designed and as it was envisioned,” he said. “We’re on
track to finally getting EFV in the hands of Marines in
a few years.”
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