The new US Marine ACV is to be fitted with a new 30 mm cannon turret, borrowed from the Stryker, in a new variant to be delivered in coming months.
The US Marine corps recently announced the fitting of new 30-mm turrets on the corps’ Amphibious Combat vehicle. The chosen turret is the Kronsberg medium caliber turret (MCT-30), already used on the Stryker (though in a heavier configuration) and will replace the XM813. BAE Systems’, the vehicle’s integrator, will integrate the Kronsberg cannons, in several phases, before delivering 150 newly-equipped vehicles to the Marine Corps. ACVs had, until now, been equipped with .50 caliber machine guns.
ACVs thus join their cousin vehicles in the realm of 30 mm firepower, after the Stryker got its own 30-mm gun, based on urgent requirements made by German-based 2nd cavalry regiment. The Kongsberg MCT-30 turret, which encases the gun, is already mounted on the new double-hulled Stryker vehicles – the most modern infantry fighting vehicle currently in service.
The entire replacement program was fast-tracked when Congress voted the emergency credits, following both the 2nd cavalry regiment’s recommendations, and dire reports from active war zones, which indicated that the Stryker suffered from insufficient firepower and poor performance from IEDs. With an initial launch in early 2019, the delivery phase should start in early 2021.
Integrator BAE was tasked with the selection of the turret supplier, and ran live-fire tests with 5 candidates, lining up a total of 12 models. Kongsberg scored best and also fit the spec envelope, which is particularly narrow in the case of an amphibious vehicle, which is subjected to additional buoyancy requirements.
After an integration phase planned in 2021, the vehicle should be commissioned and put into service in the Marine Corps, no later than 2023, if the schedule is kept.
