The United States’ military has displayed its latest combat vehicle and it’s awesome.
The Amphibious Combat Vehicle was designed by Lockheed Martin to replace the Marine Corps’ aging amphibious vehicles. The ACV has eight wheels, a six-cylinder turbodiesel engine, and weighs about 20 tons according to Live Science. Lockheed Martin was able to make the 20 ton ACV able to float by designing it so it displaced as much water as it weighed. This allows the ACV to travel through rough water ways and terrain including stormy weather in the ocean. (RELATED: Report Argues That The F-35 Is Totally Inferior To Foreign Fighters)
Lockheed Martin says the ACV can carry up to 15 people with a max speed of 60 mph. The specifications on the Lockheed Martin website also say the ACV can be armed with up to a 30 millimeter cannon. According to David Hunn, the senior fellow and technical director working on Lockheed Martin’s ACV program, all that is required to switch between land and water is the touch of a button saying, “We’re trying to make this where the driver doesn’t have to make a lot of decisions under high pressure. When you hit the dashboard button that says ‘swim,’ everything changes automatically. The wheel works like a regular steering wheel, but it’s now attached to the swim system.”
The design of the ACV hull also always the vehicle to be more blast resistant than a more traditional design. (RELATED: Defense Firm Looks To Resurrect Old Concept: Tank Boats)
There is no specified dates for when people might see the ACV in action, but Hull expects that it could soon be used for rescue missions during disasters such as hurricanes or tsunamis.