Легкая бронированная разведывательная машина LAV 25 и её замена ARV.

Canadian/American reconnaissance vehicle

The LAV 25 (Light Armored Vehicle) is a member of the LAV II family. It is an eight wheeled amphibious armored reconnaissance vehicle built by General Dynamics Land Systems and used by the United States Marine Corps and the United States Army.

During the 1980s, the U. S. Marine Corps began looking for a light armored vehicle (LAV) to give their divisions greater mobility. In April 1981, the United States Department of Defense opened submissions to the LAV program. Three contractors were downselected. Alvis – A Scorpion 90 and a three Scorpion APCs. – a license built copy of the Mowag Piranha 8×8 The USMC ordered 758 vehicles of all variants. LAVs first saw combat during the invasion of Panama in 1989 and continued service in the Persian Gulf War, Iraq War, and the War in Afghanistan. The table of organization and equipment for a USMC light armored reconnaissance battalion includes 56 LAV 25s, 16 LAV ATs, 12 LAV Ls, 8 LAV Ms, 4 LAV Rs, 4 LAV C2s, and an unknown number of LAV MEWSS vehicles.

The LAV platform is planned to remain in service with the Marine Corps until 2035. The Marines aimed to have prototypes for the LAV's replacement, dubbed the Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle (ARV), by 2023. The ARV was initially planned to be a networked family of wheeled vehicles capable of performing various mission sets, with 500 to be procured. In April 2021, the Marines revealed they had shifted focus to new capabilities for performing reconnaissance rather than specific types of platforms, and that the LAV 25 replacement may not be a new armored vehicle. Nevertheless, proposals for Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle prototypes were due in May 2021; requirements were for a vehicle with a tethered unmanned aircraft system (UAS) and an open architecture approach allowing for integration of capabilities including battle management systems and communications suites, weighing less than 18.5 tons and being small enough to fit four on a Ship to Shore Connector. Vendors that submitted proposals include General Dynamics Land Systems, Textron, and BAE Systems. The Marine Corps plans to make up to three awards for ARV prototypes for testing and evaluation, then choose up to two to continue into a competitive engineering and manufacturing development phase in 2024, after which a decision will be made as to whether production will be pursued. Textron and GDLS were awarded Other Transaction Authority (OTA) contracts in July 2021 for prototypes to be built and evaluated over the next two years. BAE Systems will also participate in a separate technical study to see if a variant of its Amphibious Combat Vehicle can meet ARV requirements. There are planned to be six ARV variants: command, control, communications and computers unmanned aerial system (C4/UAS); organic precision fire mounted; counter UAS; 30 mm autocannon and ATGM; logistics; and recovery.

Developed from the AVGP family built by General Dynamics Land Systems, the LAV 25 is powered by a 6V53T Detroit Diesel turbo charged engine, they are four wheel drive (rear wheels) transferable to Eight wheel drive. These vehicles are also amphibious, meaning they have the ability to "swim" but are limited to non surf bodies of water (no oceans). While engaged in amphibious operations, the maximum speed is approximately using equipped propellers. The current Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) modifications will hinder or eliminate amphibious operations. Typical land speeds are approximately 100 km/h (62.5 mph) in either 4 or 8 wheel drive; however, fuel economy decreases in 8 wheel drive. The vehicles operate on diesel fuel. They are equipped with a 25 mm M242 Bushmaster autocannon, two 7.62 mm M240 machine guns, and two four barrel smoke grenade launchers located on the forward left and right sides of the turret. The crew is three; vehicle commander, gunner, and driver; and four passengers (scouts) with combat gear.

The LAV 25 is a lightly armored vehicle. The base model is protected by light gauge high hardness steel armor (MIL A 46100), varying in nominal thickness from 4.71 mm to 9.71 mm. This level of high hardness steel armor is intended only to offer protection against small arms rounds such as the common 7.62x39mm M1943 ball used by Kalashnikov rifles such as the AKM, to achieve the lowest possible weight and cost.

The standard LAV is fitted with a turret with 360° traverse, armed with an M242 25 mm chain gun with 420 rounds of 25 mm ammunition, both M791 APDS T (Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot Tracer) and M792 HEI T (High Explosive Incendiary Tracer), of which half is ready for use. 150 rounds are ready for use from one stowage bin, 60 from another stowage bin, the other 210 rounds are stowed elsewhere in the vehicle. A coaxial M240C machine gun is mounted alongside the M242, and a pintle mounted M240B/G machine gun, with 1,320 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition, is mounted on the turret roof. The Canadian Army uses an upgraded version of this chassis for its Coyote Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle.

The vehicle has been through many changes through the late 1990s. The new modification or SLEP has changed the LAV 25 to the LAV 25A1 standard and has been completely fielded.

Funding has been approved for continued upgrades to the LAV family to bring them up to the LAV A2 standard. Phase I improvements include increased external and internal ballistic armor upgrades, improved fire suppression equipment, and upgrading the vehicle's suspension to the Generation II standard. Phase II upgrades include replacing the turret hydraulics with an electric drive system and replacing the thermal sight with an improved model incorporating a laser range finder for aircraft. To reflect the improved significant survivability and capability enhancements occurring today, the LAV is being renamed as the LAV A2. The LAV A2 project involved developing and installing an internal and external ballistic protection upgrade package, developed by Armatec Survivability, for the Light Armored Vehicles, an automatic fire suppression system for the interior of the vehicle and a Generation II suspension upgrade to support the added weight of the new armor. The suspension upgrade includes new struts/steering knuckles, torsion bars, shocks and mounts and driveshaft. The three kit armor system provides the LAV with additional survivability against improvised explosive devices (IED) and direct fire kinetic energy weapons. The LAV 25A2 includes the Improved Thermal Sight System (ITSS) developed by Raytheon. The ITSS provides the gunner and commander with thermal images, an eye safe laser range finder, a fire control solution and far target location target grid information. The new armor will provide protection from 14.5 mm armor piercing rounds, and include an anti spall lining on the inside to further protect crew members. It will be similar to the protection found on the U. S. Army's LAV III "Stryker" variant. Tests by the U. S. Army's Operational Test Command (OTC), Airborne and Special Operations Test Directorate at Fort Bragg demonstrated that the LAV 25A2 could be airdropped from transport aircraft, a capability of interest to Army airborne units. In October 2018, Alpha Company, 4th Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division was activated and equipped with ex USMC LAV 25A2s for test and evaluation; the unit was deactivated in September 2020 differing to wait for the creation of the U. S. Army's Mobile Protected Firepower units planned for 2025/2026.

In January 2019, General Dynamics was awarded a $37.2 million contract to upgrade the Marine Corps' LAV fleet. Designated the LAV A3, upgrades include improvements to the powerpack to improve reliability, cooling capacity, diagnostics, and fuel economy, a new drivetrain for improved towing capability, a steering dampener to improve road feel and usability, and a digitized drivers' instrument panel. The initial contract was for 60 hardware kits which are planned for installation by 2021.