On Monday, March 2, 2026, the Light Armored Vehicles program office (PM LAV) of the United States Marine Corps (USMC) announced the completion of maritime environment testing of competing prototypes of the ARV-30 wheeled reconnaissance combat vehicle from General Dynamics Land Systems and Textron Systems as part of the Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle (ARV) program.
Photo: Textron Systems
The maritime environment tests, supervised by the USMC in accordance with operational requirements, were conducted in January and February of this year at the Amphibious Vehicle Testing Branch (AVTB) at Camp Pendleton, California. They included trials in still water, maneuvering in calm water, and other exercises. The tests were observed by the Program Executive Officer for Land Systems at the USMC, Stephen Bowdren, personnel from the PM LAV program office, and other experts, after which they received demonstration reports from test operators from Textron and GDLS.
This initial swim test represents a significant milestone, demonstrating the capability of both platforms to meet the demanding amphibious requirements of the USMC. As a platform intended for deployment and operations in littoral environments, the ARV is designed to be a highly mobile vehicle with network-centric connectivity, transport capability, ballistic protection, and adequate firepower. Further trials will now continue through the end of the year, including weapons testing and open-sea swim trials in wave conditions.
Zdjęcie: Textron
“The whole point whether it’s this vendor (Textron Systems) or GDLS is the swim tests provide confidence in the design. These tests give the vendors important feedback so they can go back and refine their designs to make sure they’re offering the best capabilities to the government over the next phase of the program, and we get to a production down select” explained Col. Christopher Stephenson, Program Manager of PM LAV.
“There is no question the LAV has been a wonderful vehicle for the Marine Corps for the last 40+ years, but there’s a limit to how much you can iterate on a 40-year-old design. The ARV brings a truly modern platform, designed using the best commercial practices for significant safety and interconnectivity improvements,” explained Stephenson. “Beyond the vehicle itself, the real transformation is how it will enable Marines to communicate and fight. By integrating both manned and unmanned systems, the ARV will host the advanced capabilities required to support the kill webs of a future fight—allowing us to rapidly digest, analyze, and provide critical situational awareness to the commander.”
Photo: GDLS
The maritime testing is one of the final events for the PM LAV office in the ARV program with the participating vendors. Following this stage, the program office will seek to close the rapid prototyping phase and transition to the pre-production development phase. Contracts will be awarded to both vendors within the next few months, initiating a 4.5-year phase in which each will deliver 16 prototypes of different ARV variants. The eventual winner will provide six pre-production vehicles to the Fleet Marine Force. These variants will undergo a series of tests that will allow PM LAV to make a preliminary selection in 2030.
Earlier, beginning in March 2025, prototype testing was conducted at U.S. Army facilities: the Ground Vehicle Systems Center at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren and the Michigan National Guard’s Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center in Grayling, Michigan.
It is worth recalling that on January 23, 2024, GDLS announced the completion of factory tests of the prototype of the baseline ARV wheeled reconnaissance vehicle variant. Its competitor is the Cottonmouth ARV 6×6 from Textron Land Systems (part of Textron Systems), whose hull was redesigned compared to the original proposal. Both bids were selected for the program on July 16, 2021. At the same time, the offer from Science Applications International Corp. was rejected; the company had partnered with Singapore’s ST Kinetics, most likely based on the Sentinel II vehicle (AV-82 Terrex 3), originally indicated back in 2019.
Photo: GDLS
On November 26, 2024, Textron Land Systems received an order to deliver a prototype of the ARV MCA (Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle Medium Caliber Autocannon), which will compete with the ARV-30 from General Dynamics Land Systems. Earlier, initial funding had already been awarded to both companies.
The combat weight of the ARV is not to exceed 18,500 kg. Plans call for the acquisition of around 500 vehicles to replace approximately 600 LAV-25s for a maximum of 6.8 billion USD, with deliveries expected within five years of selecting a single bidder. The selection had originally been planned for fiscal year 2024, though the delay may now reach up to six years.
The following specialized variants are planned: a wheeled reconnaissance combat vehicle, a C4/UAS command vehicle, a counter-unmanned aerial systems vehicle, a recovery vehicle, a logistics vehicle, a self-propelled mortar carrier, and a tank destroyer armed with anti-tank guided missiles – designated ARV MCA/ARV-30. The ARV-30 variant is equipped with a 30 mm ATK XM813 automatic cannon paired with a 7.62 mm machine gun, a launcher for anti-tank guided missiles, and a remote weapon station.