US Marines in Okinawa, Japan just received the first batch of the next-generation Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACV)— the marine corps’ much-needed replacement for the aging Assault Amphibious Vehicles (AAV), which was first introduced in the early 1970s and has been plagued with all kinds of problems.

The role of the ACV is to move Marines ashore during an amphibious assault. In a conflict with China, the ACV will be useful for island-hopping operations around Taiwan or in the South China Sea since it can be launched from miles away on a hovercraft or landing craft utility ship and easily go from swimming in the ocean to driving on the beach and land.

The ACV will help enable the USMC’s strategy of seizing and holding islands within the range of enemy fire and denying its forces access to key maritime straits.

The 35-ton ACV is produced by BAE systems in conjunction with the Italian company Iveco. The ACV is based on Iveco’s SuperAV 8x8 amphibious vehicle and offers improved speed, agility, operational range, protection and firepower over the Vietnam-era AAVs.

The ACV can be launched from an open-ocean ship and operate in challenging sea and surf conditions. It has a ship-to-shore range of around 12 nautical miles

The ACV is also exceptionally mobile on land and has a top speed of 65 miles per hour/105 km/hour on paved roads, with a maximum driving range of 325 miles/520 kilometers.

Unlike the old AAVs, the ACVs have a V-shaped hull to better protect against mines and IEDs, as well as an automatic fire suppression system.

The base variant has a remote-controlled weapons stations that allows crews inside to fire .50 caliber or 40-millimeter grenade launchers from inside the vehicle.

It can hold a total of 16 people— 3 crew plus 13 combat-loaded Marines, whereas the older AAVs can transport 21 Marines.

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