The 80's and the 90's was a golden time in Marine Corps leadership.
In succession we had General PX Kelly, General Gray, General Mundy, General Krulak, and General Jones.
These men assembled the equipment, developed the doctrine and re-established a warfighting ethos that serves us even today.
One of those pieces of equipment is the LAV-25.
In the early 1980's the Marine Corps is concerned about a conflict in the Middle East. Not the small wars that we've been fighting but a major mechanized effort possibly involving the Soviet Union. General Kelly was concerned that the Marine Corps would be at a severe disadvantage against a highly mechanized force and would not be able to maneuver against such an opponent because so many Marine Infantry Units were foot mobile, at best truck transported.
The LAV-25 was suppose to fill that gap by providing a degree of mobility to the Marine Corps...hence the name of the first units equipped with the LAV-25--- Light Armored Infantry Battalions.
The vehicle was armed with a 25mm gun in a turret that provided a overmatch capability against the threat vehicle at the time most likely to be encountered...the BMP.
The choice to mount a turret on the vehicle with a large cannon proved to change the entire concept of the vehicles employment.
IF the Marine Corps had chosen to equip the majority of the vehicles in the Light Armored Infantry Battalions with 50 caliber machineguns instead...say a ratio of 3 machine gun equipped LAV's for every 4 vehicles...then the Light Armored Infantry Battalions would have worked. You would have been able to field Infantry Battalions that were mobile AND capable of conducting operations independently...consider it akin to the Army's Stryker Brigades but on a lighter scale (in essence the Marine Corps developed a pure Stryker Brigade Concept almost two decades before the Army tried to cobble parts to equal an MEU).
Instead we have an ultra light unit that operates somewhat like a Calvary unit but inside the sphere of the Marine Regiment (or Division) and not able to operate at speed because its tied to Infantry that is either truck or AAV mounted in a mechanized attack.
If the Marine Corps is again faced with a long range attack against a formidable foe then a repeat of the invasion of Iraq will again happen. The Army will be in the lead, Marine units be pushed hard to keep up and Commanders will again face the drama of pushing men beyond exhaustion or to disagree and risk being replaced (In my opinion this is the one REAL mistake that Mattis ever made...he relieved a Commander for taking care of his troops in the attack...Google it I won't debate the issue)
The invasion of Iraq (Gulf War 2 for the kiddies) highlighted two serious problems with Marine Corps armor. First the AAV was woefully inadequate and only BARELY able to do the job of being an APC. Second, the LAV-25 was wonderful as a Calvary vehicle but the Marine Corps is able to gather information from other higher speed sources..most notably Marine Air...add UAV's to the mix and only someone asleep at the wheel would need to conduct recon by fire.
The Marine Corps is in a pickle. One of three options are on the table. Either develop an Amphibious Combat Vehicle, upgrade the AAV and/or buy the Marine Personnel Carrier.
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| MTVR. The Corps true APC. |
The MTVR was pushed into that role and quite honestly it has been the workhorse for the Ground Combat Element but it needs to fulfill its original requirements, not serve as an adhoc APC.
I seriously question whether the AAV can be upgraded enough to make it survivable on a modern battlefield. I also question (unfortunately) whether the Amphibious Combat Vehicle will survive the coming budget mess.
That leaves the Marine Personnel Carrier. The vehicles are ready now. The Marine Corps should select the vehicle can that provide the best performance possible...not for river crossing but as a true APC. If we continue to rehab AAV's while waiting on the ACV then we can still fulfill the forcible entry role. The problem for the Infantry is that once they're feet dry they're foot mobile. The AAV's go off to AAV land and they're rarely seen again.
Infantry are either walking or riding into battle in the back of a 7 ton truck.
That just won't do.
