Assault Amphibious Vehicle
amphibious tracked armored personnel carrier series
The Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV)—official designation AAV7 (Assault Amphibious Vehicle, Model 7), formerly known as LVT7 (Landing Vehicle, Tracked, Model 7)—is a fully tracked amphibious landing vehicle manufactured by BAE Systems Platforms & Services (previously by United Defense, a former division of FMC Corporation).
The AAV7 was the primary amphibious troop transport of the United States Marine Corps from the 1970s until the first half of the 2020s. It was used by U.S. Marine Corps Amphibious Assault Battalions to land the surface assault elements of the landing force and their equipment in a single lift from assault shipping during amphibious operations to inland objectives and to conduct mechanized operations and related combat support in subsequent mechanized operations ashore. It is also operated by other forces. Marines call them "amtracs", a shortening of their original designation, "amphibious tractor".
In June 2018, the Marine Corps announced they had selected the BAE Systems/Iveco wheeled SuperAV for the Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) program to supplement and ultimately replace the AAV. The AAV7 was eventually retired from U.S. Marine Corps service in May 2025.
History
Development
The U.S. Marine Corps became interested in replacing the LVTP-5 due to its limited range, slow water speed and the difficulty of maintaining the aging platform. In 1964, the Marine Corps solicited proposals to replace meet its requirement. The request was met by proposals from Chrysler and FMC, with the latter being awarded the contract in February 1966. Twelve prototypes of the new vehicle, designated LVTPX12, were delivered by FMC in summer 1967.
“Assault Amphibious Vehicle” enters the record as amphibious tracked armored personnel carrier series. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Assault, Amphibious and Vehicle can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q700689. The Library of Congress control number is sh2003008610. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2018, 2025, 1964 and 1966.
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