{"id":70359,"date":"2025-04-29T20:05:36","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T20:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/04\/29\/marines-want-to-add-counter-drone-weapon-to-amphibious-vehicle\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:20:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:20:48","slug":"marines-want-to-add-counter-drone-weapon-to-amphibious-vehicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/unmanned\/2025\/04\/29\/marines-want-to-add-counter-drone-weapon-to-amphibious-vehicle\/","title":{"rendered":"Marines want to add counter-drone weapon to amphibious vehicle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s note: This story has been updated to reflect that the 2020 accident involved an Assault Amphibious Vehicle.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As final tests get underway for Amphibious Combat Vehicle variants<\/a> sporting 30mm cannons and crane hooks, the Marine Corps is exploring how to incorporate another add-on: a counter-unmanned aerial systems capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Col. Tim Hough, the Corps\u2019 program manager for advanced amphibious assault, speaking Tuesday at the Modern Day Marine expo in Washington, said the ongoing conflict in Ukraine<\/a> has propelled counter-unmanned aerial systems, or counter-UAS, weaponry onto a priority list of add-on capabilities for the vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s kind of growing as everybody\u2019s been watching the fight in Ukraine over the past four years is that counter-UAS threat,\u201d Hough said. \u201cIt\u2019s no secret, and armored vehicles are a juicy target on the battlefield. And I don\u2019t think the ACV would be any different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The form that counter-UAS capability might take hasn\u2019t yet been determined. Hough said the Corps was in the \u201cmarket research\u201d phase of evaluating the need, and still developing a sense of \u201cwhat\u2019s in the realm of the possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnlike any other armored platform on the battlefield, we have a unique requirement, and that\u2019s, we\u2019ve got to push a 72,000-pound brick through the water upwards of 12 nautical miles,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery time we bolt on another capability, we\u2019ve got to make sure we\u2019re not getting ahead of ourselves with the amount of weight we can put on the vehicle before we start limiting that water mobility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among possibilities under evaluation include a counter-UAS radar that\u2019s integrated with the vehicle\u2019s turret, Hough said, but \u201cit\u2019s wide open at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t