Amphibious Assault Vehicle

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LVTP-7
US Marines AAV in Fallujah, Iraq
General characteristics
Crew	3+25
Length	7.94 m
Width	3.27 m
Height	3.26 m
Weight	22.8 tonnes
Armour and armament
Armour	45 mm
Main armament	Mk.19 40mm grenade launcher, 864 rounds
Secondary armament	M2HB 0.5in (12.7 mm) machine gun, 1,200 rounds
Mobility
Power plant	Detroit Diesel 8V-53T (P-7), Cummins VT 400 903 (P-7A1) 400 hp (300 kW) VTAC 525 903 525hp(AAV-7RAM-RS)
Suspension	torsion-bar-in-tube (AAV-7A1) torson bar (AAV-7RAM-RS)
Road speed	64 km/h, 13.5 km/h
Power/weight	18 hp/tonne
Range	480 km

The Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV)—official designation AAV-7A1 (formerly known as LVT-7) is the current amphibious troop transport of the United States Marine Corps and is also operated by other forces.

1 Overview
2 Development
3 Variants
4 Combat History
5 Operators
6 Notes
7 External links

[edit] Overview

The AAV-7A1 is a fully tracked amphibious landing vehicle manufactured by FMC Corporation.

It is used by USMC Amphibious Assault Battalions to land the surface assault elements of the landing force and their equipment in a single lift from assault shipping during amphibious operations to inland objectives and to conduct mechanized operations and related combat support in subsequent mechanized operations ashore.

[edit] Development

The LVT-7 was first introduced in 1972 as a replacement for the LVT-5. In 1982, FMC was contracted to conduct the LVT-7 Service Life Extension Program, which converted the LVT-7 vehicles to the improved AAV-7A1 vehicle by adding an improved engine, transmission, and weapons system and improving the overall maintainability of the vehicle. Existing P-7A1s were later upgraded to carry the UGWS (UpGunned Weapons Station), which mounts a .50 cal (12.7 mm) M2HB machine gun and a Mk-19 40 mm grenade launcher.

[edit] Variants

An AAVR-7A1 attached to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit splashes into the Pacific Ocean from the well deck of USS Juneau before heading to the beach.

Three types of AAV-7A1s exist;

AAVP-7A1 (Personnel)
AAVC-7A1 (Command)
AAVR-7A1 (Recovery)

The P-7A1 is by far the most common type. The P-7A1 has the capacity to carry 25 combat-equipped Marines. AAVP-7A1s are operated by three crewmen; the crew chief, driver, and rear crewman.

AAVP-7A1s have also been modified to carry the Mk 154 MCLC, or Mine Clearance Line Charge. The MCLC kit can fire three linear demolition charges to breach a lane through a minefield. MCLCs were used in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and again in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

In the 1970's, the US Army used a LVT-7 as the basis for their Mobile Test Unit (MTU), a ground-based antiaircraft high energy laser. After several successful test firings at Redstone Army Arsenal, the laser was reportedly transferred to NASA.

[edit] Combat History

Marine Amphibious vehicle destroyed near Nasiriyah, March 2003

Twenty U.S.-built LVTP-7s were used by Argentina during the 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands, one of them being damaged by British forces. It was heavily used in the conflict in Iraq and has been criticized for providing poor protection for the crew and passengers compared with other vehicles such as the M2 Bradley. Several of them were disabled or destroyed during the Battle of Nasiriyah, where they faced RPG, mortar, tank and artillery fire. Eighteen Marines were lost.^[1] As a result, an applique armor kit to protect against weapons such as RPGs was developed by Rafael, however on August 3rd 2005 14 Marines were killed in Haditha when their AAV was destroyed by a Triple-Stacked Anti-Armor Mine.^[2] AAV-7A1s were also used extensively in the Persian Gulf War and in Operation Restore Hope.

The AAV is still used by the United States Marine Corps, although it is slated to be replaced with the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle starting in 2008