After greater than a 12 months of restricted use, the Marine Corps‘ new armored fight automobile, or ACV, will deploy from the coast of California with a Marine expeditionary unit, the appearing commandant of the service mentioned Thursday.
The ACV changed the growing old and troubled amphibious assault automobile after a long time of use and a 2020 mishap that killed eight Marines and a Navy corpsman on the West Coast.
The alternative automobile has had its personal points. In October 2022, an ACV rolled over, although no Marines or sailors had been killed. In response, the Corps restricted operations of the automobile. In July of that very same 12 months, two ACVs grew to become disabled off of Camp Pendleton, California — once more, nobody was harm.
Learn Subsequent: Marines Cannot Depend on Navy Ships to Carry Them to World Emergencies, One of many Service’s Prime Generals Says
Now, after revamping the automobile’s coaching program, the Corps is trying to push it into the Pacific with the fifteenth Marine Expeditionary Unit, or MEU — a unit that skilled a lethal rollover with the ACV that killed one Marine final month, however that mishap occurred on land and never within the surf.
The automobile deployment announcement was made by the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Chris Mahoney, throughout an occasion on the Hudson Institute, a assume tank primarily based in Washington, D.C.
“The ACV will deploy with the fifteenth MEU, and we have began protected waterborne [operations]. We have now very detailed guidelines standards to get that platform again into unprotected waters and we’re engaged on that, however I’m assured we’ll get to the … degree we must be assured in tough sea states,” Mahoney mentioned Thursday.
“She’s going to deploy with fifteenth MEU after which change into a part of the Okinawa contingent as soon as they get on the market,” he added in response to a query from USNI News.
The eight-wheeled ACV is supposed to bolster the Marine Corps’ skill to get its troops to shore. The automobiles are transported on ships and might experience the surf near shore throughout assaults and landings.
Protection News reported final week that the fifteenth MEU will deploy with the Boxer Amphibious Prepared Group over the following few months.
In response to the 2022 rollover, the Marine Corps mentioned it revamped its coaching for the touchdown craft, together with recertifying all the crews.
Early final 12 months, the Marine Corps fired the commander accountable for the Assault Amphibian Faculty, who was accountable for coaching Marines in ACV operations and upkeep.
Associated: Marines Hearth Commander of Assault Amphibian Faculty After Car Mishap
