ACV-30 passes cargo-hold test aboard USNS Dahl

The cannon-armed ACV-30 can be carried aboard the Marine Corps’ maritime prepositioning ships, Blount Island Command says, after Marines ran a yellow tape measure along one inside the cargo hold of USNS Dahl (T-AKR 312) on Nov. 4.

Logistics specialists had expected trouble. The turreted ACV-30 was the variant in the Amphibious Combat Vehicle family they considered hardest to maneuver through a ship’s cargo spaces, so the team at Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island, Florida, recorded its turning and clearance requirements and tried several ways of getting it on and off.

“The ACV-30 moved through the ship, and the team documented what crews need to load and secure it safely,” said Robert Hazlett, a contracting officer’s technical representative who watched the checks. “Those measurements and lashing requirements will help embarkation specialists document future load plans.”

Capt. Kristian Mitchell, the command’s plans officer, led the assessment and has the contractor’s report. The command didn’t publish the measurements, and it hasn’t said how many ACV-30s it wants aboard prepositioning ships or when the first ones could go.

Dahl already carries a lot of Marine gear. A September 2025 Inspector General audit counted 647 items of Marine Corps prepositioned equipment aboard the ship in the Indo-Pacific, and while auditors found storage was well monitored, they flagged leaking vehicles with no service requests opened.

BAE Systems builds the ACV, and the 30 version adds a Kongsberg turret with a 30 mm cannon. The Marine Corps started fielding it this year and has kept ordering more.

The wheeled ACV is replacing the tracked Assault Amphibious Vehicle. Its personnel carrier version entered service in 2020 and has deployed with Marine expeditionary units on amphibious warships, but prepositioning ships run by Military Sealift Command are a different job. Program officials were already thinking about that back in 2019, after ship-to-shore testing.

“We’re not just looking at how effective it is in a combat environment, but also how logistically supportable the platform is,” Angelo Scarlato, then an ACV product manager, said at the time.

Tools come next. In September, Blount Island Command received its first ACV battalion tool kits and checked every tool and part number against packing lists and technical manuals, so Marines who draw the kits overseas find what they expect where they expect it.

Putting the vehicles and their maintenance gear forward would mean less for deploying Marines to haul from the United States, the command says, and the Nov. 4 data will go into load plans for the rest of the ACV family.