The AAAV force is designed to provide a tactical assault and sustainment capability for Marines of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force. From amphibious ships standing well offshore-even over the horizon-from the objective, the AAAV rapidly transports the landing force over the beachhead to an objective ashore, using maneuver and speed, plus on-board firepower to achieve superiority over enemy forces. Once ashore, the AAAV will serve as an armored personnel carrier, providing transportation, protection, direct fire support and command, control and communications (C3I) for the Marines.

High water speed requires minimal hydrodynamic drag; to accomplish this, the AAAV will retract its tracks and suspension system and deploy cover plates on its underside to present a smooth surface. Thus, while in the water and traveling at high speed, the AAAV will be a planing hull craft. When the AAAV approaches 15 to 20 ft of water depth at the shore, it will reduce speed to come off plane, retract the cover plates, lower the suspension and tracks, and travel the remaining distance to the shore at a speed of approximately 8 to 10 knots.

Once ashore, the Marine Corps will use the AAAV (P) as a tracked armored personnel carrier to accomplish dominant maneuver and precision engagement; in that mode, the 17 infantrymen carried inside will typically dismount to fight. The crew will use the AAAV (P)'s primary and secondary weapon (predicted to be a 25-35mm cannon and 7.62mm coaxial mounted machine-gun, respectively, with fully stabilized turret and forward looking infrared optics) to support the infantry and armor combat elements.

The AAAV's land mobility characteristics must be comparable to the Marine Corps' M1A1 Abrams main battle tank. This requires a top speed of approximately 45-mph, the capability to traverse the same terrain as the tank during cross-country operations, and the capability to cross the same obstacles and terrain features (for example, trenches, hills, walls, and soft soils) as the tank.

The AAAV is under DOT&E oversight for both LFT&E and OT. The TEMP approved in 1994 contains the initial AAAV LFT&E vulnerability strategy. Early Operational Assessments in FY92 and FY93 found that the AAAV design represented a potentially effective and suitable weapon system for the 21^st century. The planned test-based LFT&E program features a building block approach that will culminate in a full-up, system-level test of two AAAV systems.

OT&E was not conducted on the AAAV program this year. DOT&E participated in a combined test working group, in which representatives of the system user, developer, and DT&E and OT&E communities discussed their requirements and planned for sharing resources when possible.

Early Operational Assessments before Milestone I, in FY92 and FY93, found the design to be potentially operationally effective and potentially operationally suitable.

Both the OT&E and the LFT&E program plans are adequate to support decisions regarding operational effectiveness, operational suitability, and survivability.

The formation of an LFT&E IPT has been beneficial in developing a robust LFT&E program adequate to support the eventual Live Fire evaluation.