(Washington, D.C.) The Marine Corps is divesting its fleet of tanks as part of a strategic and tactical shift toward more sea-based, multi-domain and amphibious approach to keep pace with growing Maritime threats and be positioned to respond to contingencies involving island chains, coastal areas and other kinds of integrated land-sea-air operations.
Abrams tanks, while considered crucial to land war operations, are difficult to deploy and often take time to transit.
Purchasing 20 Vehicles in FY 22
While the Corps’ new ship-to-shore connectors are able to transport 70-ton Abrams tanks from ship-to-shore, it will still be difficult to mass Abrams tanks in sufficient numbers for any kind of amphibious assault, and they of course lack the speed and mobility to keep pace with tactical vehicles or wheeled combat vehicles once ashore.
Accordingly, as part of a decided effort to migrate the service toward more expeditionary, cross-domain combat operations, the Corps is plussing up the numbers of its new fleet of arriving Amphibious Combat Vehicles, a move which Navy leaders say does relate to service plans to divest tanks.
“The plan for the ACV is to increase the buy from 72 to 92 vehicles in FY 22. And so the tank divestiture is a piece of that. However, I wouldn’t say that is the only piece of that,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Budget Rear Adm. John Gumbleton told reporters, according to a Pentagon transcript.
The is an armed 8X8 wheeled combat vehicle designed in part to improve land attack maneuverability and extend amphibious assaults further inland.
Lightweight Munitions and F-35Bs
A key part of this evolving strategic push is also related to the advent of more lightweight, transportable munitions such as anti-tank weapons increasingly able to integrate with fast-moving vehicles. What this means is that the Corps can still operate with heavy, anti-armor firepower, yet do so faster in a more agile, deployable and expeditionary fashion
