US Marine Corps platoon details ACV manoeuvrability, lethality improvements

Amphibious Assault Vehicles swam in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Camp Pendleton, California, during Exercise ‘Quarterly Underway Amphibious Readiness Training 25.3'. (Janes/Meredith Roaten)

Marines training to go on the second deployment of Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACVs) told Janes the new equipment drives and swims better than the legacy system.

The ACV's first deployment took place within the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) in May 2024 during Exercise ‘Balikatan 24' at Oyster Bay in the Philippines. III Marine Expeditionary Force units received the 8×8 vehicles in June 2024, and 31st MEU is expected to deploy with the assets later this year, marines operating the vehicles during Exercise ‘Quarterly Underway Amphibious Readiness Training (QUART) 25.3' at Camp Pendleton, California, told Janes on 1 June.

In recent months, detachments of marines have been training on ACV operations including most recently in ‘QUART 25.3', said 1st Lieutenant Hunter Hicks, platoon commander assigned to 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division.

During the most recent training and at a live-fire training at the Service Level Training Exercise 2025, the vehicles demonstrated improved manoeuvrability, making training easier for marines compared with the legacy Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV), 1st Lt Hicks told Janes in an interview on the sidelines of ‘QUART 25.3'.

During the exercise, marines launched and recovered ACVs off the back of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49) as one part of the certification process the marines underwent for qualifying these vehicles for amphibious operations. Compared with the AAV, marines were able to get back on the boat more quickly.