Marines Postpone Faster Amphibious Combat Ships to 2025 | Military.com: The Marines will have to wait another decade to increase the speed of its amphibious troop carriers, Marine Corps officials said Tuesday.
The service is pushing forward with plans to build about 200 new Amphibious Combat Vehicles that will ultimately replace the older, Amphibious Assault Vehicle fleet.
High-water speed has been a key requirement since these armored troop carriers are designed for forced-entry operations. Marine officials, however, have decided to postpone a decision on the requirement until 2025, Marine officials said at the 2015 Sea, Air and Space conference hosted at National Harbor, Md.
"High-water speed is still an important requirement for us. We are just going to have to figure out how to go about doing that," said Marine Maj. Gen. Andrew O'Donnell, assistant deputy commandant for Combat Development & Integration.
The ACV is the service's top modernization priority, but it will not immediately replace the AAV. The Corps will upgrade 392 AAVs to compliment the new ACVs.
