U.S. Marine Corps to equip its new combat vehicles with medium caliber turret

According to Jane’s Defence Weekly, the Kongsberg’s PROTECTOR MCT-30 medium caliber turret, selected for the U.S. Army’s Stryker Dragoon infantry carrier vehicle, will now be used for the Corps’ new Amphibious Combat Vehicles.

Jane’s has reported that the PROTECTOR MCT-30, the latest extension to the Kongsberg’s PROTECTOR RWS family, selected for the U.S. Marine Corps’ new Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV).

The ACV highly mobile, survivable and adaptable platform plans to be outfitted with MCT-30 remotely operated turret.

The MCT-30 weapon system provides highly accurate firepower for combat and armored vehicles. It is remotely controlled and operated from a protected position inside the vehicle compartment. The turret is accessed and reloaded from under armor.

The main armament is a 30mm automatic cannon equipped with a linkless ammunition handling system for increased reliability compared to traditional link fed cannon systems.

The advanced version of ACV will be called the ACV-30.

The ACV will come in four different variants derived from the armored personnel carrier base. There’s a recovery variant, a command and control variant, and an up-armed variant to engage enemy armored vehicles.

The ACV powers through high surf, traverses over trenches and trucks over sloped terrain. The ACV’s significant protective assets make it resilient to direct attacks and allow it to operate with degraded mobility in an ever-changing battle environment. The vehicle possesses sufficient lethality to deliver accurate fire support to infantry, whether stationary or on the move.

The ACV also has a unique V-shape underbelly to deflect the blast of improvised explosive devices. Since IED’s were the most lethal weapons used against AAV’s, the new ACV was designed to take a blast from an IED, continue the mission and bring Marines home safely.

Earlier this year, U.S. defense contractor BAE Systems said that it had got a $113.5 million order for delivering additional ACVs to the .S. Marine Corps. This award brings the total vehicle orders for the ACV to 116, and moves the program closer to full-rate production.

In a tweet, Editor of Jane’s Armoured Fighting Vehicles yearbook and defense journalist Sam Cranny-Evans added that the total number of ACVs to be procured is expected to be lowered with the force posture revision by 2030.

https://t.co/u4EvubsCUB the MCT-30 from Kongsberg has been selected for the USMC’s ACV-30 IFV variant of the ACV family. The total number of ACVs to be procured is expected to be lowered with he force posture revision by 2030. pic.twitter.com/QXP1lqztiH

— Sam Cranny-Evans (@Sam_Cranny) April 30, 2020