Anything but light: LAVs conduct live-fire exercise to pave the way for eyes-forward reconnaissance, enemy destruction
RODRIGUEZ LIVE FIRE COMPLEX, Republic of Korea (March 27, 2007) -- The vehicle stands about three meters off the ground with its eight tractor trailer sized tires keeping the angular behemoth’s body from becoming a permanent feature of the landscape. The main weapon, a 25mm Bushmaster chain gun, protrudes from the gunner’s turret, signifying potential annihilation.
March 27, 2007
By Lance Cpl. Eric D. Arndt, 31st MEU
Equipped with adequate firepower sufficient to permanently mar enemy vehicles with watermelon-sized holes, the light armored vehicles of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit are something of an anomaly: only in the Marine Corps could an automotive this foreboding be described using any word besides “heavy.”
“Destructive” could also work. Besides the main weapon, LAVs can be equipped with a smorgasbord of other delightful enemy-ridding devices: an 81mm mortar tube, a tube-launched, optically wired missile, or the standard: an M-240G machine gun, attached to a mount that can swivel independently of the rotating turret.
If that weren’t enough, the vehicle’s 275 horsepower Detroit diesel engine can also move at a traveling speed of 65 miles per hour, quickly getting to and from the places it’s required.
Of course, a vehicle is only as effective as the men operating it. In this case, there are three: the actual driver of the LAV, the gunner, who operates the chain gun, and the vehicle commander.
“Vehicle commanders make sure the driver drives safely, and from a tactical standpoint, manages the vehicle to where enemies can not get a clear shot at it,” said Staff Sgt. William J. Guth, a vehicle commander with Light Armored Reconnaissance platoon, Battalion Landing Team 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, the MEU’s ground combat element.
“We also employ the gunner by identifying and selecting targets for him to engage.”
The vehicles, which roll in packs – two per section and four per platoon (not counting the logistics, maintenance, or communication vehicles) are usually sent to a mission from a secured position. Modular to accommodate any type of task, the LAV can adapt to whatever it is called to do: assaults, the evacuation of casualties, or performing cordon and knock operations.
This may be where the design of the system shines. Each attack vehicle is equipped with – in addition to the vehicle operators – four infantrymen, which act as the vehicle’s scouts and can patrol ahead to call in the LAVs when they’re needed.
Cpl Jacob C. Suter, a squad leader with the platoon, recalled the method his unit would use the vehicles in Iraq.
“When conducting raids, we would use the vehicles as an outer cordon to keep people out,” he explained. “Then, some of the scouts would take care of inner security while the rest would knock down doors to snatch bad guys.”
When it does come down to a firefight, however, nothing steals the thunder of the vehicle’s main chain gun, the Moline, Ill., native added.
Although the vehicle is not armored enough to engage tanks, its speed and reliability more than makes up for the absence of heavy armor.
“We can reach out and touch anyone we need to,” Guth said. “If used properly, these vehicles can pretty much own the battlefield.”