The Infantry Assault Vehicle, Stryker, which has eight wheels of all-wheel-drive, is an armored assault vehicle designed and manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems and is based on the Canadians LAV III. The Stryker is the newest armored vehicle that the U.S. Army has produced since the M2/M3 Bradley in the 1980s.

The Stryker Brigade Combat Teams relies on the C4I network in order to connect all of the Strykers in any given area so that they can interact with each other on the battlefield in a way that has never been seen before. This new system is uniformed and stable enough to allow top quality battle precision and maneuvering capabilities that beats any and all other military tactics in the world.

Design

Pretty much all of the vehicles mechanical functions are driven by either pneumatic or hydraulic systems and although the vehicle comes in several different models, they all share a common engine, transmission, hydraulics, wheels, tires, chassis, and several other important mechanized features. The Stryker has been upgraded with a high-capacity generator and an air conditioning unit. We don’t want our troops to get all the way to the Middle East and die of heat exhaustion, now do we?

Power pack and mechanical features

The Stryker uses a common caterpillar disel engine block that can be found in many of the United States Army’s tanks, which allows the different models to share parts and the mechanics don’t have to learn how each separate version works in order to repair something. All of the cables and hoses on these mechanical contraptions are easily disconnected from the system to allow quick and efficient maintanence of the vehicle. The entire engine and transmission system can be removed and replaced within two hours which means that a lot of the repairs can happen outside of the vehicle and then simply be put back in at a later time.

Command, control, and targeting

To help prevent what was common in older warfare, computer systems can now allow soldiers to track all of the other friendly vehicles in the area so that they don’t accidentally blow each other up. Believe it or not, the majority of losses in United States tank warfare come from friendly fire incidents. The Stryker has also been updated with a day-night thermal imaging system that lets the Commander see whatever the Driver sees at all times. Even while soldiers are IN the vehicle at the time, they can now doing vehicle training missions from computer simulation modules inside the Stryker. The Driver and Gunner of the Stryker can use the assistance of persicopes to see 360 degrees outside of the tank so that they don’t have to put themselves in harm’s way in order to see what’s going on.

Protection

The Stryker is well defended as it has enough armor protection to stop the rounds of a 14.5 mm armor-piercing machine gun. It comes equipped with an automatic system that puts out fires as soon as they start which lowers the amount of damage that’s done to the tank and, in case the sensors don’t pick it up right away, the Driver can activate the halon fire bottles himself in order to stop any and all fire-related threats that the tank can encounter. The Stryker also comes with slated armor that is capable of detonating explosive materials at a safe distance away from the tank. That means those nasty missiles that come flying at it will be easily extinguished without doing any permanent damage to the vehicle. Right down to the fuel tanks, the Stryker has be ergonomically crafted so that in the case of an explosion, the externally mounted containers will blow AWAY from the vehicle, potentially saving the lives of dozens of United States soldiers. The Stryker is airtight and pressured in a way that keeps it protected from chemicals, biological toxins, radiological threats, and even nuclear catastrophes. The Stryker is also due for some new and interesting upgrades soon, which include the Boomerang anti-sniper system and the Raytheon anti-RPG system.

Mobility

The Stryker has the ability to fluctuate the pressure in all of its eight tires in order to combat varying terrains, including highways, cross-country driving, mud, sand, rain, and snow. The computer system aboard will automatically let the Driver know that the vehicle is exceeding the preferred speed for that specific tire pressure and then readjust the tire pressure to fit that speed. Even though the Stryker’s tires can go several miles after a flat tire, systems will alert the Driver of the problem. While the Stryker cannot travel in open water, it can tread small bodies of water up until the top of its wheels. While the Stryker can be air-dropped, as is seen with the tests performed in August of 2004, no existing helicopter can carry the 19-26 ton vehicle.

Cost

In 2002, the Stryker cost over $3 million, although by 2003, that price was cut in half.

LAV-H Stryker upgrade

The US Army has plans to reshape the hull, add extra armor to the sides of the vehicle, non-flammable tires, an extra 500 amps of power, better semi-active suspension, design variations in the doors and seats that make them even better at resisting impact movement, and changes to the system in order to maintain the 25% increase in weight that the Stryker has received. The new StrykShield Situational Awareness Kit has been established to point out a lot of new upgrades that the Stryker could use, such as the new ATI 500-MIL steel armor that the Stryker now possesses.

The Stryker isn’t exactly a light vehicle or a heavy one, but instead simply a vehicle that is able to carry out its duty and perform the tasks that need to be done in order to win wars. The stryker provides a decent amount of security and can transport soldiers to the battlefield quicker than ever before. While previous transport vehicles have been light armor vehicles or no armor at all, the Stryker provides its infantry with speed, durability, reliability, range, security, and a .50 caliber machine gun. In urban areas, such as Middle Eastern cities, Strykers can maneuver right up to doorsteps and allow infrantry to dismount and enter the building under the cover of the vehicle. As the Stryker isn’t as strong against heavy weaponry, it has to rely on its speed for the majority of its defense tactics. What that means is that while it can’t take as many of the blows that heavy armor battle tanks can, it can certainly outmanuever its enemy to win the fight.

As it turns out, however, tests have shown that the Stryker is capable of utilizing both defense systems and its crew to combat tanks that are of a higher classification than itself, although the casuality rate is relatively higher in these circumstances.

The Stryker’s main objective is to be rapidly deployed over long distances. While this used to call for a lot lower protection, the logistic requirements of the Stryker are now much higher.

The LAV-25 is used primarily by the USMC as an amphibious armored personal carrier, also known as an APC. Built by General Dynamic Land Systems in Canada, it is based on Switzerland’s MOWAG Piranha I. The LAV-25 has eight weels and is run by a 6V53T Detroit Diesel turbo-charged engine. While the LAV-25 is capable of floating and moving in water, it is limited in its ability to only travel in non-ocean bodies of water. While the LAV-25 can travel 12 km/h in water, it can travel 100 km/h on land. The Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) which is currently in place, however, will most likely dissolve the LAV-25′s ability to travel on anything other than land.

The LAV-25 is accomodated with a M242 Bushmaster 25 mm cannon, two M240 7.62 mm machine guns, and two 4-barrel grenade launchers which are usually only loaded with smoke bombs and are located on the front left and right sides of the turret. The LAV-25 can hold combat gear and four passengers in addition to its three man crew: the Vehicle Commander, the Gunner, and the Driver.

Since the late 90s, the vehicle has seen many changes and modifications while funding has been approved for even further upgrades. The new improvements will include more of both internal and external ballastic armor, improved fire suppression equipment, increased suspension, an electric drive system for the turret hydraulics, and replacing the old thermal sight with a new one that uses a laser range finder.

The LAV-25 is equipped with a 360 degree turret and armed with an M242 25 mm chain gun with 420 rounds of 25 mm ammunition, with both armor piercing capabilities and high explosives. In addition to the M242, both an M240c machine gun and a M240 G/B machine gun are mounted to the main turret.

A similar tank, known as the LAV-AT, is designed for anti-tank warfare and can easily demonstrate such abilities with its Emerson 901A1 TOW II ATGM launcher. It’s also mounted by an M240E1 machine gun.

The LAV-M is a mortar tank, manufactured with an opening roof and an 81 mm M252 mortar that has 360 degrees of destruction and a M240E1 machine gun.

The LAV-AD is designed with air defense in mind and is equipped with an electric turret that has a 25 mm GAU-12 Equalizer gattling cannon mounted on top, alongside two four-missile pods, which hold FIM-92 Stinger Surface To Air Missiles. While this model of the LAV is no longer in use, a variant of it has been created for foreign trade.

The LAV-R is a recovery vehicle that has a boom crane and a recovery winch in order to retrieve damaged vehicles: LAVs in particular. It is also armed with a M240 E1/G machine gun and carries a sufficient ammount of ammunition.

The LAV-C2 is a mobile command center and sports a raised roof in order to fit several VHF, UHF and HF radios. It has a M240 E1/G machine gun and is usually referred to as the “C-Square”.

The LAV is also modified in various ways to introduce the LAV-Log (a logistics vehicle), the LAV-MEWSS (an eletronic warfare specialist), and a future replacement of the LAV-M has been suggested, called the LAV-EFSS (which is adapted with provisions in the use of Dragon Fire, a 120 mm recoil mortar system).

The M113 is an armored personnel carrier that has provided the U.S. Army with a primary level of moveable infantry for nearly 50 years. Its production wasn’t as necessary in later years, however, as the M2 widely substituted the need of the M113. Although the M113 wasn’t intended for light vehicle combat, this tank served an intrimental part during the Vietnam War, causing the Viet Cong to refer to it with the deathly title of “Green Dragon”. During the war, the M113 was able to obliterate the pathway of trees and other debris in the jungle and allowed for both other APCs and ACAVs to attack and destroy the enemy’s position.

The M113 had the unique attribute of aluminum armor which made the vehicle lighter than previous versions of the APC. While other versions were well protected against heavy assaults, the M113 was able to defend against light attack from infantry while still being able to move fast across country terrain, perform amphibious missions, and be airlifted to another location at any given time. While the M113 is first and foremost an American vessel, it has been used by the governments of over 50 countries and over eighty thousand these monsterous tanks have been produced over the past 4-5 decades. While there is definitely room for improvement, the M113 has been dubbed with the title of “most significant infantry fighting vehicle in history”.

Origins

The M113 was created for the U.S. Army by the Food Machinery Corporation, who also made the M59 and M75 APCs. The M75, which proceeded the M113, was too heavy to be of much practical use when it came to amphibious assaults and airlifting missions. The M59 was made to be lighter than the M75 but it had the problem of not having enough armor to defend itself to the military’s liking. Therefore, the M113 was made to resemble both of these predecessors. The M113 has enough armor to protect itself and its crew, while being light enough to carry out its desired missions.

While two prototypes were suggested before the M113 was chosen, the M113 weighed a lot less than its counterpart, the T117, which was made out of mostly steel. The T117 had thicker armor but the aluminum defense for the M113 provided the same defense that the T117 offered. A diesel engine was added in later years to suppliment the gasoline engine of earlier prototypes.

The M113 was transferred to United Defense for production in 1994 but then United Defense itself was bought by BAE in 2005.

M113

The M113 is able to be air-lifted, air-dropped, and parachuted into any battle zone known to man. The main focus of the M113 is to deliver troops into combat in a quick, strategic fashion while providing the crew with a valuable defense during their trip. This armored vehicle moves to the front lines to drop of its soldiers and then quickly retreats to the rear of the batallion for protection by the rest of the tanks in the area. The M113 is equipped with a 12.7 mm (.50 caliber) M2 Browning machine gun which is controlled by the Commander of the vehicle.

The first barrage of 32 M113s in Vietnam arrived on March 30, 1962. Two AVRN mechanized rifle companies each took 15 M113s and rampaged the battle field during the Battle of Ap Bac in the following January, in which fourteen M113 Gunners were killed due to underqualifying specifications of the tank. Modifications were soon added and the Army mechanics took the hulls off of sunken ships and placed in on the M113. Later on, however, they found out that those shields were able to be pierced by weak offense so additional shields had to be fitted to the M113 as well: these coming from junk armored vehicles.

The M113 was later upgraded to include gun shields which became the standard for all Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicles and dispatched to all mechanized units in Vietnam during the 1960s. While the M113 was intended to be a taxi for soldiers, it ended up being a light-weight amphibious tank instead. The tank was eventually “re-adopted” in this manner by the U.S. Army and was used as both a fighting machine and as a tool to gather information from the front lines. The M113 could still, however, fit 11 soldiers inside.

Modifications

The modified tanks used in the Vietnam War have also been used in Iraq and the .50 caliber gun shields have been altered while the rear left and rear right compartments have been removed all together.

The M113 has light, reactive armor with extra plates and is RPG resistant. The gunshields now have windows and the steel tracks that previously damaged roads are now replaced with band tracks.

A lot of M113s are no longer in service but the ones that are have pretty much all been upgraded in one way or another. While newer tank designs such as the M2 Bradley and other heavy defense vehicles provide more of a defense, the M113′s light armor gives it the ability to be air-lifted, which the heavier tanks cannot be.

The M113 is also used to simulate the visual perception of enemy vehicles, which gives its crew the ability to ride right into an area without having to sit inside of a transport truck.

The M2 Bradley is an Infantry Fighting Vehicle while the M3 Bradley is a cavalry fighting vehicle (as in anti-tank) but both of them are designed and manufactured by BAE Systems Land and Armaments, previously known as United Defense.

Just like any other infantry fighting vehicle, the Bradley’s prime objective is to transport soldiers to and from the battlefield while offering them some level of armored defense and providing counter-fire to the enemy.The M2 can hold up to 9 people: three crew members (the commander, the gunner, and the driver) and six fully equipped soldiers. The M3, on the other hand, is mostly just to scout out the area so it only holds the three crew members plus two scouts.

The Bradley was designed to counter Soviet IFVs of the same class and required that these new tanks be able to maintain the same speeds as the M1 Abrams in order to stay in a formation, which the old M113 Armored Personnel Carrier couldn’t do because it was made to stay in formation with the M60 Patton, a retired vehicle.

Both models of the Bradley have 25 mm cannons that can fire 200 rounds per minute up to 2500 meters away. They also have two TOW2B missiles that can easily destroy most tanks at 3750 meters away. The TOW can only be fired however, when the vehicle is stationary. The Bradley also comes equipped with a 7.62 mm medium machine gun which is fixed just to the right of the 25 mm chain gun. The Bradley does great with large open terrains and when it was first built, was even capable of floating on water. Over the years, the extra armor makes this impossible, however.

The Bradley weighs 33 tons and has an aluminum hull, which has led many to criticize the Bradley’s combat survivability. The vehicle also tends to carry large ammunition stockpiles around with it which has done even more to raise skepticism. Few losses have actually come to the Bradley during combat, however, as hard steel skirts and spaced laminate belts have been added to the later models for extra defense. In Desert Storm, the crews of the Bradley vehicles survived more often than the Marine Corps’ LAV 25 vehicles.

Lieutenent Colonel James Burton conducted several test fires in which they found out that the center of the Bradley is the most vulnurable when it comes to being hit. The redesigns that Burton had in mind, however, were never fully added to the Bradley and the vehicle still stores its fuel in the center of the tank, despite Burton’s presentation. Burton later wrote a book describing the vigorous battle that he fought, along side the press and Congress, to have these tests done. Thanks to the work of Burton, over 50 lives were saved in the two Gulf Wars.

The Bradley has been modified in various ways over the years: with the Bradley’s chassis design, it has served as the prime location for the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System, the M4 C2v Battlefield Command Post, and the M6 Bradley Linebacker Air Defense. With its 25 mm autocannon, armed with a four-slot Stinger surface-to-air missle launcher, the M6 Bradley Linebacker held a special role, providing mobile air defense at the front lines of every battle. The suspension system of the Bradley has also been used to improve the USMC’s Amphibious Assault Vehicle. The total cost of the Bradley’s production program is $5.6 billion as it costs a little over $3 million to create each unit.

The Bradley itself is named after General Omar N. Bradley of World War II. The M3 was actually supposed to be named after General Jacob L. Devers, but it was decided that both the M2 and the M3 models would be named after Bradley because they’re based on the same chassis design.

Since production started in 1981 by the United States Army, nearly seven thousand Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles have been made, including 4.6 thousand M2s and 2 thousand M3s.

In the midst of the Gulf War, the Bradley ended up destroying more Iraqi tanks than the M1 Abrams did. Overall, twenty Bradleys were destroyed, including three that were from enemy fire and another seventeen from friendly fire. Twelve more were damaged. To help prevent the friendly fire incidents, several upgrades were added to the Bradley, including infrared identification panels and several other marking features.

Today, the Bradley seems to be a bit more vulnerable to IED and RPG attacks but casualties have been kept to a minimum, due to a design that allows the crew to abandon the vehicle in order to save their own lives.

The M2 served as the basic model, production starting in 1982. The M2 can easily be recognized for its 500 horsepower engine and standard TOW missle system. The M2 had HMPT-500 hydromechanical transmission, an integrated sight for M242 25 mm gun, a thermal imaging system, and could also fight on both land and in water with the help of a floatation device known as the “Swim Barrier”. The M2 comes with advanced armor that protects it from attack in all directions.

The M2 now allows for thirteen soldiers to fit inside, as adjustments in the seating and additional armor plating has made the rear port weapons obsolete. Improvements also included a TOW II missile system, a GPFU (Gas Particulate Filter Unit) NBC system, and a fire-suppression system in order to prevent fires and explosions due to missiles that may get through the armor. Later, the Bradley got even more upgrades, including a 600 horsepower engine with an HMPT-500-3 Hydromechanical transmission and improved armor. The new armor plating protects the M2 from 30 mm APDS rounds and RPGs, while the ammunition has been reorganized to allow more room.

During Operation Desert Storm, improvements were furthered with an eye-safe laser rangefinder (ELRF), a tactical navigation system (TACNAV), the Precision Lightweight GPS Receiver (PLGR) the Digital Compass Systems (DCS), a countermeasure missile system designed to counter wire-guided missiles, and the Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below Battlefield Command Information System. A thermal imaging system was added for the driver of the Bradley, while internal storage was, once again, rearranged. Instead of the rear single-seat arrangement, a bench seat was added to make dismount time even quicker. Even a MRE heater was added to prepare food aboard the Bradley during combat or peacetime ventures.

The M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank (MBT) was named after the late General Creighton W. Abrams, who served as out nation’s Army Chief of Staff and commander of the 37th Armored Battalion. The M1 Abrams is the spine of the United Stated military’s armored forces and even several of our allies use them as well. This mobile artillery weapon provides the battle scene with moveable firepower in armored formations in order to do combat with and destroy any opposing vehicle known to man, while offering security for its crew at the same time. The M1 Abrams is capable of engaging its targets in rain, sun, snow, sleet, hail, and any other weather condition, while also in both day and night. The surrounding environment plays no effect on the Abrams capacity for destruction as it is capable of climbing rocky hillsides and steep drops. It combines the capacity of firepower, maneuvering capabilities, and shock effect in its quest for domination over the battlefield.

Over 8,000 M1 and M1A1 battle tanks have been produced for the US Army, US Marine Corps, and the armies of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. The M1A2 Abrams is also in its last production phase for Foreign Military Sales. Overall, there’s three active editions of the M1 Abrams which are in service at this time. Those include the original M1 Abrams, the M1A1 Abrams, and the M1A2 Abrams. Collectively, these are the most damaging battle lords in the world. When the M1A1 came out, it upgrades the original M1 Abrams’ 105 mm main gun with a 120 mm gun and also upgraded the suspension, a new turrent, extra armor, and even a nuclear-chemical-biological defense system. The M1A2 also brought along even further enhancements, including an independent commander’s thermal viewer, an independent commander’s weapon control station, navigational equipment, and a link to any other M1A2 Abrams in the area which allowed them to share a common visual on the battlefield.

Right now, the US Army is upgrading about a thousand of the older M1 tanks to the new M1A2 model. They also upgraded the M1A2′s digital command and control capabilities and increased its Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) to make the Abrams even more lethal and versatile in limited visibility. They are now dispatching the M1A2 to the First Calvery Division in Ft. Hood, Texas. Over the next few years, the Army will continue to field the M1A2 to other “first to fight” units, including the CONUS contingency corps.

All of the tanks in the M1 series are equipped with a 1500 horsepower Lycoming Textron gas turbine engine and an Allision hydrokenetic transmission with four forward gears and two reverse gears. They have a cruising range of 275 miles. Even though the Abrams is extremely heavy, it can reach speeds of up to 45 miles per hour. The main gun is a 120 mm smooth bore cannon which is equipped with a laser range finder to help it find its target even in the darkest surroundings. That also includes a thermal imaging night sight, an optical day sight, a digital ballistic computer, which makes the Abrams accuracy nearly impossible to beat. The fuel and ammunition are kept in separate compartments to ensure that even if the Abrams is attacked, it has maximum survival capabilities. The hull and turrent are protected by advanced armor and, when need be, the Abrams can even be equipped with reactive armor which makes armor piercing munitions pretty much useless.

When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, the Abrams got its chance to show the world just what it was made of. Even though it would be the first time it would have to do continuous battle for months at a time without being repaired and a lot of people were worried about both the survival of the turret system and how the Abrams would behave in the sands of the middle east, the Abrams was and still is capable of defeating any tank that Iraq could throw at it. It was a difficult process to relocate these heavy machines, though, as the largest cargo aircraft that the US Air Force has, the C-5 Galaxy, could only carry one Abrams at a time. When they finally got there, however, the Allied Forces were very happy.

Most of the Iraqi Army’s fleet were purchased from the Soviet Union, which gave them a wide variety of combat equipment. The largest single model that they had were 500 T-72s which were armed with a 125 mm smooth bore main gun and had astounding similarities as the Abrams itself. While it was designed well, the T-72s turned out to be drastically inferior to the M1A1′s and more closely resembled the older M60A3 tanks that the US Marine Corps used in the same battle. Iraq also used 1600 T-62s and 700 T-54s, both of which were definitely inferior to the Abrams, as they were developed in the 1960s. The battle allowed tacticians to view global tank development in a way that hadn’t been achieved since World War II.

Author Norman Friedman writes in his book about the Gulf War, “Desert Victory – The War for Kuwait”, that “The U.S. Army in Saudi Arabia probably had about 1,900 M1A1 tanks. Its ability to fire reliably when moving at speed over rough ground (because of the stabilized gun mount) gave it a capability that proved valuable in the Gulf. The Abrams tank also has… vision devices that proved effective not only at night, but also in the dust and smoke of Kuwaiti daytime. On average, an Abrams outranged an Iraqi tank by about 1,000 meters.” The Department of Defense states that  A total of 1,848 M1A1 and M1A1 “Heavy Armor” (or HA) tanks were deployed between the US Army and Marine Corp (who fielded 16 M1A1′s and 60 M1A1{HA} tanks).

As Operation Desert Shield evolved into Operation Desert Storm, the Abrams darted forward and demolished Iraqi tanks as often as they could. As they had done before in the Iran-Iraq war, Iraq used their tanks as fixtures of anti-tank technology rather than a brigade of mobile firepower. They dug their tanks into the ground to prevent target signature, but signed their own death warrants at the same time, as they made themselves a lot slower. Allied air power quickly dominated them by destroying 50% of their tanks before the Allied tank division had even crossed the border. With much fewer tanks to take care of now, the Abrams moved forward and crushed the Iraqis before they even knew what hit ‘em.

Even as thick black smoke erupted over the battlefield, the result of Kuwaiti oil wells being set on fire, the Abrams’ thermal sights weren’t bothered at all. Many Gunners even used their night vision sights during the day, as it was dark. The Iraqi tanks weren’t as fortunate and were pummeled in all directions by units that they couldn’t see. During the entire Gulf War, only eighteen Abrams had to be taken out of commission due to damage. Nine of those Abrams were destroyed and another nine suffered far too extensive damage, mostly due to mines, to be redeployed. While eighteen measly machines were lost, not a single crewman died. There were extremely few reports of mechanical errors and US armor commanders kept a constantly 90% readiness for their Abrams Main Battle Tanks.

Complete Capabilities of the Abrams
The M1A1 Abrams is equipped with an NBC overpressure protection system, a Deep Water Fording Kit (DWFK), a Position Location Reporting System (PLRS) which is similar to GPS, enforced ship tiedowns, a Digital Electronic Control Unit which saves a large amount of fuel, and Battlefield Override.

The M1A1′s M256 120 mm smooth bore cannon, designed by a German company known as the Rheinmetall Corporation, is able to engage enemies from up to 4,000 meters away and did so during Operation Desert Storm. This bringer of doom is also equipped with a armor piercing ammunition capabilities and works by firing a round ,known as the APDS-FS, (short for armor-defeating, fin-stabilized, discarding sabot) tipped with depleted uranium, at the opposing forces. Depleted uranium is known to have much high density (two and a half, to be exact) than steel and works great for penetrating armor. There’s also several other types of munitions aboard also. the M1A1 Abrams has a hit/kill ratio higher than that of any other tank in the world.

Nearly every tank that the US puts on the battlefield comes with the .50 caliber Browning M2 Heavy Barrel machine gun called the “Ma Duce” and is connected to magnification scope that can multiple the viewer’s eyesight by three times or more. Aside from that, the Abrams is also assembled with an additional two separate 7.62 mm M240 machine guns. One of the M240s is fixed to the main gun so that when the main gun is faced with an enemy, the Abrams hits its opponents hard with two weapons at once. The other M240 is given to the Loader.

The Abrams is designed to hold four passengers: the Commander, the Gunner, the Loader, and the Driver. The Loader sits on the left side of the turret and the Driver sits on the center front side of the hull, while the Commander gets his own station. The Commander’s station has six periscopes so he can what’s going on in a 360 degree turn of all sides of the tank at once. The Commander can access automatic target cueing of whatever the Gunner sees at the moment without needing to talk, automatic sector scanning, complete backup control of the main gun, and an additional device called the Independent Thermal Viewer which also gives the Commander constant day and night vision of all sides of the tank.

The United States Marine Corps uses a vehicle known as the AAV (Amphibious Assault Vehicle), officially named the AAV-7A1, to transport Marines wherever they need to be. It is fully tracked and and is now made by BAE Systems Land and Armaments, formerly known as FMC Corporation.

In a single lift, the Amphibious Assault Vehicle can transport the Marines and their gear to inland objectives as well as conduct mechanized operations and perform combat support in the water. Not only is it used by the Marines Corps, but also by other US forces.

FMC first introduced the LVT-7 in 1972, but then converted that model into the AAV-7A1 after it was ordered to implement the Service Life Extension Program. Those improvements added a better engine, transmission, and various weapons and operational capabilities of the vehicle. The AAV-7A1 has a Cummins VT400 diesel engine with an HS-400-3A1 transmission, electric motors for the hydraulics system and elevation controls of the weapons, stronger suspension and shock absorbers, the fuel tank was made a lot safer, and a smoke generator system was added. It was also equipped with eight smoke grenade launchers that were strategically located around the armament station. The Driver of the vehicle was granted with an improved instrument panel, a night vision sight, and a better ventilation system.

A further enhancement for the AAV-7A1 was the Cadillac Gage Weapon Station, also known as the Up-Gunned Weapon Station. It was armed with both a 12.7 mm M2HB machine gun and a Mk-19 40 mm grenade launcher.

The AAV-7A1 received an Enhanced Applique Armor Kit, while the additional weight required that the vehicle use a bow plane kit when on water.

The AAV RAM/RS (Assault Amphibious Vehicle Reliability, Availability, Maintainability/Rebuild to Standard) Program added new parts from the engine and suspension designs from the M2 Bradley Infrantry Fighting Vehicle.

There are several types of AAVs:

AAVP-7A1

The AAVP-7A1 is a Personnel vehicle and is easily the most common in variant of the AAV in the Marines. It’s equipped with a M2HB caliber heavy machine gun, a Mk19 40 mm automatic grenade launcher, four radios, and a AN/VIC-2 intercom system. It also holds a standard crew of three (The Driver, The Gunner, and the Vehicle Commander) along with 25 combat ready soldiers.

AAVC-7A1

The AAVC-7A1 is a Command vehicle that doesn’t have a turret and even a lot of the internal cargo space is taken up by large communications equipment. The AAVC-7A1 carries 5 radios (two MRC-145s, one VRC-89, one PRC-103 UHF, and one MRC-83) along with the MSQ Internetworking System, which is used to control those radios. The AAVC-7A1 carries a crew of three, five radio operations, three staff members, and two commanding officers. The AAVC-7A1 now uses the Harris Falcon II class radios, which includes the PRC-117 to link with VHF/UHF/SATCOM signals and the PRC-150 to link with HF.

AAVR-7A1

The AAVR-7A1 is a Reovery vehicle which doesn’t have a turret yet is equipped with a crain and just about all the tools and equipment you could think of to repair any vehicle on the battlefield. As it is the heaviest of all three Amphibious Assault Vehicles, it sits a lot lower in the water. The crew consists of the Driver, Commander, and Gunner, while repairmen are often aboard as well.

A large amount of these types of vehicles are able to carry the Mine Clearance Line Charge. The kit can launch three demolition charges in a row to break down a pathway through a minefield. These kits were used a lot during the Gulf War and in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Back in the 1970s, the United States Army and other forces used the LVT-7 to base their new designs for a high energy anti-aircraft laser weapon. After a few test firings were shot off, the device was then shipped to NASA.

Combat history

Argentina used twenty LVTP-7s to invade the Falkland Islands and every single one of them returned to Argentina by time the war ended. Many LVTPs have been used in the war in Iraq and several have been lost by RPG, mortar, tank, and artillery fire. One LVTP-7 was even hit by friendly fire from an A-10 Warthog attack place, resulting in the vehicle’s destruction and the death of eighteen Marines. Despite these incidents, the USMC still uses the Amphibious Assault Vehicle today, although it will soon be replaced by the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle in 2015.

Replacement

The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle that has been dubbed to replace the Amphibious Assault Vehicle will be three times faster in water and it will have twice the armor plating. The EFV will also have much stronger firepower than the AAV and will soon become the USMC’s favorite ground weapon. The EFV will be able to maintain and possibly even exceed the speeds of the M1 Abrams and will be able to carry Marine rifles units to and from the shore.