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thedrifter
08-05-08, 11:11 AM
Marines' Swimming Tank Next on Chopping Block?
By David Axe August 05, 2008 |

"Each of the U.S. armed services seems to have had a major -- if not their biggest -- acquisition program rescaled in recent months," Michael Bruno writes at the Ares blog. He's referring to cuts to the Air Force's F-22 fighter program, the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship and DDG-1000 stealth battleship and the Army's $200-billion Future Combat Systems family of robots and vehicles. But there is one big exception. The Marines are the only military service have been spared major cutbacks. (And yes, we know the Marines technically belong to the Navy.)

How long will the Marines' respite last? Despite having the smallest overall equipment portfolio of all the services (unless you count the Coast Guard), the Marine Corps does manage its fair share of high technology. In particular: the once-crash-prone V-22 tiltrotor and the $12-billion Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. The idea is to develop a heavily-armed, armored swimming vehicle meant to carry Marines ashore under fire, then fight alongside them. But EFV has been in trouble since it was launched more than a decade ago.

Fundamentally, it's a light tank (aka "fighting vehicle") and tanks really weren't meant to swim. Last year the Pentagon quietly halved EFV production goals to just 500 and pushed back service entry by several years in order to save money and give General Dynamics more time to work out design kinks. Now Bruno thinks the EFV might just go the way of the Navy's recently-axed stealth destroyer. "Its time in the spotlight is coming," he writes.

But Marines still need a way to get from ship to shore under an umbrella of armor, right? Well, maybe not ...

Bear in mind that the Marines haven't launched a full-scale amphibious assault using armored vehicles and landing craft since the Korean War. In the decades since, helicopter assaults and inland counter-insurgency fights have replaced Iwo Jima-style beach invasions. While it would be nice to have a new swimming armored vehicle, just in case, it might not be truly necessary. Especially with all those shiny new V-22s coming on line.

And besides, these days the Marines' amphibious assault ships, operated by the Navy, routinely sail without Marines aboard. Instead of bobbing in the Med awaiting orders to invade Lebanon, today's assault ships are hauling doctors, aid workers and scientists to the world's neglected shores in order to address the social problems that could flare up into fighting. In fact, soon I'll be boarding the USS Kearsarge for just such a mission. And when I land in Nicaragua, it won't be inside a floating tank.

(Photo: via Wikimedia)

Ellie