Light, fast and lethal is what the us marine expects from its light armored
reconnaissance battalions and on monday it put forward what it expects from
the next generations of combat vehicles. In a request for information
published monday, the us marine said it wants its new Advanced
Reconnaissance Vehicle (ARV) to include munitions upgrades.
Electronic warfare capabilities and perform some long neglected missions
including air defense. That includes a cannon with programmable air burst
munitions, that can explode over the enemy's head javelin and spike two
missiles, and sensors capable of detecting aerial drone threats.
The US marine announced to the chosen textron systems and general dynamics
land systems to begin developing prototypes of the vehicle. Prototypes are
expected to be delivered in the first quarter of fiscal year 2023, at which
point the marine corps will begin evaluations and testing.
A contract for equipping marine corps units could be worth an estimated 1.8
billion dollars to 6.8 billion over five years, according to the
congressional research service.
Extron systems announced its new prototype vehicle dubbed caught mouth for
the marine corps advanced reconnaissance vehicle program. The cod mouth was
designed to accommodate a turd, though the prototype was fitted with a
remotely controlled weapon station, armed with a 12.7 millimeters heavy
machine gun and Javelin anti-tank guided missile launcher.
The missiles can strike hostile tanks and armored vehicles beyond the line
of sight. The main role of the cod mouth is to observe the surroundings find
targets. It can even engage some of the targets though offensive
capabilities of this armored vehicle is rather humble.
Armor of the cod mouth is of welded steel construction, vehicle has a
V-shaped hull, crew can survive blasts of small anti-tank mines and
improvised explosive devices. This new armored vehicle is fully amphibious,
on water it is propelled by two water jets. It can be launched from
amphibious assault ships and operate in the open sea.
The cod mouth is a rather versatile that can be configured to fulfill
various roles. it can be used as an armored personnel carrier and for
various other roles.
Currently around 700 LAB of all variants are in service with the us marine
corps. The requirement is to replace a total of 600 LAV-25 armored
reconnaissance and vehicles with as many as 500 new advanced reconnaissance
vehicles, since around 2024.
The new ARV will be fielded alongside the new Amphibious Combat Vehicle
(ACV) and the aging Amphibious Sssault Vehicle (AAV-7), interestingly the us
marine has no immediate plans to retire its fleet of tract AAV-7 personnel
carriers that were adopted back in the early 1970s.
The LAV-25 is a 1980s design based on the Swiss piranha armored vehicle,
sort of a cross between the wheeled armored scout cars of world war II, and
modern armored personnel carriers the LAV-25 satisfied a marine requirement
for a fast armored vehicle that was light enough to be quickly transported
by air to hot spots in regions such as the middle east.
The vehicle can be lifted by C-130 and C-17 transports or even CH-53
helicopters. The LAV-25 is one of the united states marine corps oldest
combat platforms. although the LAV-25 has steadily incorporated better
drivetrains and power packs, more robust armor as well as improved crew
comfort features and ergonomics. The LAV-25 is the most accident-prone
vehicle in the marine corps.
The baseline version of the 13-ton LAV-25 has a crew of three plus room to
carry six soldiers. It is armed with the same 25 millimeter auto cannon is
the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle. Other versions include an
anti-tank vehicle armed with thomases, an 81 millimeter mortar carrier as
well as commands and supply variants.
The LAV-25 is one of numerous models of wheeled armored vehicles, including
the us army striker used by armies around the world. They are cheaper and
lighter than tracked armored vehicles such as tanks.
Wheels also make them faster on roads the lav can travel at 60 miles per
hour though at some cost to cross-country mobility and rough terrain.
The downside is that like world war II armored cars light armor does not
want to tangle with heavy armor. The LAV-25 is armored against heavy machine
guns and shell fragments, but not 125 millimeter shell from a russian tank
LAV armed with 25 millimeter cannon and tow missiles were actually able to
dispose of Iraqi armor during the gulf war, but nonetheless, light armor is
called light for a reason.
As originally designed the LAV-25 is an amphibious vehicle able to conduct
operations on water, though not during high sea states.
In order to improve the vehicle's light armor protection package, however
the LAV-25 has been up armored severely hindering the vehicle's performance
on water, for a branch of the united states military that defines itself as
an amphibious assault force, this is far from ideal and one of the factors,
aside from age necessitating a lav25 replacement.
