The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle was intended to replace the Marine Corps' long-serving AAV7 family with a modern ship-to-shore fighting vehicle. After cancellation, the replacement path moved through the Marine Personnel Carrier to the Iveco SuperAV-derived Amphibious Combat Vehicle. Comparing the planned ACV buy with the much larger AAV7 inventory raises a force-structure question: will the Marines accept fewer assault vehicles or keep the older type in service even longer? Commandant James Amos supported cancellation on affordability grounds despite the EFV's important amphibious capability. A better vehicle is not a complete replacement if the service cannot buy enough of it.
Chapter · 17:10-21:20
EFV cancellation leaves the Marines balancing old and new assault vehicles
The EFV-to-ACV replacement story sets a costly new amphibious vehicle against a much larger fleet of aging AAV7s and a constrained Marine Corps budget.