The Marine Corps Systems Command is working with Navy, Department of Defense, and industry labs to identify new technologies and materials to serve as a baseline for development of next-generation tactical ground vehicles the Corps says it will need in the near future.
Marine officials say the early work on future ground vehicles, referred to as the Marine air-ground task force expeditionary family of fighting vehicles (MEFFV), is focused on replacement in the 2015 to 2020 timeframe, when the Corps' current inventory of light armored vehicles and MIAI tanks, respectively, reach the end of their service lives. For the early work on MEFFV, the Corps is looking at the Army's future combat system program, widely considered the centerpiece of the latter service's long-range "transformation" strategy.
The Marine Corps' own efforts at transformation are based primarily on two ship-to-shore maneuver programs—the advanced amphibious assault vehicle (AAAV) and the MV-22 Osprey. The AAAV is scheduled to start arriving in the fleet by fiscal year 2009. The MV-22, nearly terminated last year by revelations of design flaws, restarted flight testing in May and probably will not start reaching the fleet until around 2015. These two systems, and the landing craft air-cushion (now set for a service-life extension), will remain the foundation of maneuver warfare. The MEFFV, although transformational, will complement the triad for ground combat operations.
The Corps hopes to transform its land-combat capabilities in coming years through a painstaking assessment of what it calls "leap-ahead" technologies that encompass new armor materials as well as new engine- and weapon-system designs. The MEFFV effort is looking at vehicle concepts and technologies, and aims at fielding modular, multimission, and low-- maintenance vehicles for assault, recon, and fire support. The MEFFV will be suitable for transport from amphibious shipping by landing craft, landing craft air-cushion, and MV-22s.
Marine Corps and Army officials say the future combat system program, managed jointly by the Army and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, will serve as a technology base for the MEFFV In March, the agency awarded Boeing and SAIC a contract to act as lead systems integrators, starting with concept development, which is under way. System development and demonstration is scheduled for late 2003.
The future combat system program will encompass manned and unmanned ground and airborne vehicles that support network-centric land warfare. It will introduce new power-train, weapon, sensor, and command-and-control technologies to support operations by the Army's future "objective force" of light mobile units. The future combat system has provided funding to the Corps' MEFFV project office.
Marine officials, however, say that the Corps does not envision a joint Corps-Army effort on the future combat system, nor will the MEFFV be a Marine version of the Army's system. "The individual Marine is still the weapon system," said one Marine armor officer. "The platforms are tools for him to exploit." He added that the future combat system technology development efforts will solve some problems for the Marine Corps, including, for example, automated target recognition and vehicle navigation. The Corps also expects to exploit new unmanned ground- and air-systems technologies that might emerge from the future combat system and other development programs for use in reconnaissance and even as weapon platforms.
The Corps' main effort for MEFFV, managed by the Office of Naval Research, is an evaluation of emerging armor materials. The office awarded contracts this spring to General Dynamics Land Systems and United Defense (longtime builders of armored vehicles), to McDermott and Triton Corporations (which fabricate advanced high-strength materials), and to Rutgers University and the University of California-Irving for concept-development work on new materials. Separately, the Office of Naval Research is working with Penn State's Applied Research Laboratory and Georgia Tech's Research Institute to develop design tools for analysis of Marine armor designs.
On the weapon side, the Corps is supporting development and testing of an objective crew-served weapon (OCSW), a new heavy machine gun/grenade launcher. Currently a "weapon without a platform," it is expected to be suitable for fielding on the MEFFVs, as well as on M1A1s, Humvees, and helicopters in an air-mobile variant. The OCSW is envisioned as a lightweight 25-mm weapon manned by a two-man crew, and will be capable of firing high-explosive and armor-piercing ammunition. The system already has gone through integration testing and is scheduled for Army fielding in 2005.