BAE Systems has announced the delivery of the first Amphibious Combat Vehicle Command and Control (ACV-C) variant from BAE Systems facility in York, Pennsylvania, to the US Marine Corps (USMC).

The delivery was in accordance with the full-rate production timeline of the ACV program and the contract awarded in December 2020 between the company and the USMC. As reported from the former, the ACV-C is designed to provide Marines with an amphibious mobile command center, enhancing situational awareness, command and control (C2), and operations planning in the battlespace, for the command teams of the Marines. The ACV-C merges these capabilities with the platform ones such as true open-ocean and ship-to-objective maneuver, land mobility, survivability, and an open architecture able to incorporate future technologies.

Vice president of the amphibious vehicles product line for BAE Systems, Garrett Lacaillade, commented on the announcement with enthusiasm, underlying the critical capability that this variant brings in the Corps “ensuring the Fleet Marine Force is mission ready.” BAE Systems also confirmed that 2 of the planned 4 ACV variants are currently in production at its facility: the ACV Personnel variant (ACV-P) and the ACV-C variant.

As already reported in detail by RID, the ACV-P provides transport for 13 combat-loaded Marines and 3 crew members. The other 2 versions of the successful vehicle are also underway. The ACV 30mm (ACV-30), equipped with a 30mm Remote Turret System, is conducting its test and evaluation phase using the Production Representative Test Vehicles (PRTVs), while the fourth variant under contract, the ACV Recovery variant (ACV-R), has reportedly completed the first phase of its design process, with the PRTVs expected to be delivered in 2025. 

As reported by the program manager for Advanced Amphibious Assault, Col. Tim Hough, the USMC expects that the ACV-C will be able to reach initial operational capability (IOC) soon, by March 2024. Its employment will quickly fix the lack of “enough secure beyond-the-line-of-sight (BLOS) voice and data nets to support” the ACV-P variant for the execution of command-and-control missions and tasks. Noting the ACV-R isn’t expected to reach its initial operational capability until late 2027 or early 2028, the Marines will rely on the AAV recovery variant for field maintenance until its replacement arrives.

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