USNI News on the ACV attempts to shine a light but points out glaring weakness in spots...

 

USNI News was attempting to write a puff piece on the ACV but if you read between the lines you get the impression that this "game changer" is a compromise on wheels.  Via the article that you can read here.

The ACVs, Savage said, are difficult to keep maintained properly, and the battalion doesn’t carry as much as the AAVs used to carry. 

Difficult to maintain?  These rides are practically brand new!  The idea that such a young vehicle to the Marine Corps is difficult to maintain is a brain fuck!

 Marines who operated the tracked AAVs say it’s trickier driving the ACV inside a ship or a combat town, noting the wheeled base doesn’t allow for easy maneuver through tight spaces.

This is a just wow moment for me.  I've seen wheeled vehicles that have skid steering.  This one doesn't.  Pity.  Between fewer numbers (and I have yet to see the numbers assigned to each MEU) and difficulty in maneuver this vehicle will be a boutique item for the ground force.

 “We are not going to be operating in the desert. We’re going where it’s more island-chain campaigns. 

I found this statement by the Lt to be interesting.  I can't quite tell where he's going or what he means here.  Is he being division specific?  Or is he talking Marine Corps wide.

Either way it's disturbing to me.

Quite honestly it smacks of the old Army attitude.  For the Army it was a European battlefield today, tomorrow and into the future.  Nothing else mattered.  In the meantime the fight never happened there but it did in other lands and they weren't ready for the fight.

I hope the Marine Corps isn't following that example but I've heard enough from Senior Marine Corps Officers that confidence is not high. 

Back to the ACV.

I don't want them in a fight anywhere but if these predictors of the future are right and a fight with China is inevitable then I hope they get a workout in a smaller war somewhere so we can see what we really have.  Call it a look past the propaganda of the vehicle to see if it really is a  "game changer".