ACV-30 Amphibious Combat Vehicle – 30 mm Cannon.

The ACV-30 is the direct-fire and infantry-support member of the U.S. Marine Corps Amphibious Combat Vehicle family. It was developed as an engineering change proposal to the ACV-P, rather than as a separate vehicle design, allowing the Marine Corps to introduce medium-caliber lethality without creating a new automotive or amphibious support chain. The vehicle therefore retains the ACV-P’s common powertrain, drivetrain, water-propulsion system, navigation and communications equipment, and survivability architecture.

The principal change is concentrated in the upper hull and fighting system. The ACV-30 uses a Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace RT20 remotely operated turret, mounted above a modified ACV hull structure and configured around a stabilized, dual-feed 30 mm cannon system. The turret is unmanned in the conventional sense: the commander and gunner remain below the roofline and control the weapon through digital crew stations, electro-optical sights and fire-control interfaces. The main armament is the Northrop Grumman XM813 Bushmaster-family chain gun, chambered for 30×173 mm NATO-standard ammunition. The XM813 is an externally powered weapon derived from the Mk 44 Bushmaster II architecture and optimized for vehicle integration, high first-round hit probability and rapid switching between ammunition natures. Its dual-feed arrangement allows two ammunition types to remain available to the gun simultaneously, permitting the crew to transition between anti-armor and high-explosive effects without manually reconfiguring the feed system.

The cannon is supported by a coaxial medium machine gun for use against exposed personnel, soft-skinned vehicles and other targets not requiring 30 mm ammunition. The ACV-30 carries up to 300 rounds for the main cannon and up to 800 rounds for the coaxial machine gun, figures confirmed in U.S. operational-test documentation. The fire-control architecture is one of the most important differences between ACV-30 and the personnel variant. Both the vehicle commander and gunner have independent thermal and visible-light sighting systems, allowing separate observation sectors and reducing dependence on a single shared sight head. The driver is also provided with an enhanced vision system. This arrangement supports rapid target acquisition, target hand-off and engagement in daylight, darkness and degraded visibility.

The turret is fully stabilized, allowing the sight line and weapon axis to remain controlled during vehicle movement. Combined with laser ranging, digital ballistic computation and powered traverse and elevation, the system is designed to deliver accurate fire while accompanying maneuvering Marine formations rather than operating only from static firing positions. Internally, the ACV-30 is configured for a three-Marine crew consisting of driver, gunner and vehicle commander. Behind and around the turret-related equipment, the vehicle retains seating for up to eight embarked Marines. The Marine Corps specifically defines the variant as supporting dismounted maneuver while still carrying infantry, distinguishing it from a pure fire-support carrier.

The eight-man embarked capacity is lower than the ACV-P’s 13 Marines because the turret installation, ammunition racks, electronics and associated structural modifications occupy part of the personnel and payload volume. Even with this reduction, the vehicle remains a combined troop-and-fire-support platform rather than a dedicated gun vehicle. The ACV-30 also carries two days of supply, including food, water and ammunition. This is an important operational requirement because the vehicle is intended to continue supporting Marine formations after the initial ship-to-shore movement rather than functioning only during the amphibious approach.

Its tactical role is explicitly centered on infantry support. U.S. Marine Corps and DOT&E descriptions state that the medium-caliber weapon system is optimized to support dismounted maneuver while providing sufficient lethality to defeat hostile vehicles, including armored targets. Within an ACV-equipped Assault Amphibian company, the ACV-30 is planned at a density of six vehicles per company. This gives the company an organic medium-caliber direct-fire component that can maneuver through the same amphibious and terrestrial environments as its personnel and command variants.

The common ACV chassis remains central to the design. Its 8×8 configuration uses the Iveco-derived H-Drive architecture, distributing propulsion through the wheel stations while preserving high ground clearance and internal protection volume. The platform is designed for road movement, soft ground, beach exits, cross-country maneuver and transition through surf zones. The vehicle retains the ACV family’s amphibious propulsion and ship-to-shore capability. Marine Corps program material identifies 12 nautical miles ship-to-shore as a program capability, allowing ACV formations to launch from amphibious shipping beyond the immediate littoral and proceed directly to inland objectives.

The ACV family was also conceived with substantial electronic and payload growth margin. BAE Systems identifies future integration areas including reconnaissance systems, electronic warfare, air-defense functions, precision fires, naval strike, logistics applications and unmanned-aircraft-system integration. These provisions are part of the broader platform architecture rather than baseline ACV-30 equipment. The ACV-30 completed live-fire testing in December 2024 and operational testing in May 2025. DOT&E reported that the completed operational, live-fire and cyber test program was adequate to support assessment of operational effectiveness, suitability and survivability. Production contracting followed in 2025, with the base-vehicle production contract awarded in March and the turret production contract in August.

The Amphibious Combat Vehicle family consists of four principal production variants based on the common ACV automotive and amphibious architecture.

• ACV-P – Personnel: Baseline troop-carrying variant configured for a crew of three and up to 13 embarked Marines. It provides ship-to-shore and inland tactical mobility and normally employs a remotely operated weapon station capable of mounting a .50-caliber machine gun or Mk 19 automatic grenade launcher.
• ACV-C – Command: Command-and-control variant fitted with additional battle-staff workstations, communications networks and command systems. It serves as a mobile combat-operations-center platform for mechanized Marine formations.
• ACV-30 – 30 mm Cannon: Direct-fire variant fitted with the Kongsberg RT20 remotely operated turret and XM813 30×173 mm cannon. It carries a three-man crew and up to eight embarked Marines and is optimized for infantry support and engagement of hostile vehicles.
• ACV-R – Recovery: Armored maintenance and recovery variant equipped to recover similar or smaller vehicles and provide field-support maintenance while retaining the ACV family’s amphibious mobility.