Rolling Recoil: Marine Corps Seeking Intel on Reconnaissance Vehicle.

• Author: Park, Allyson

The latest update to the Marine Corps Force Design 2030 modernization plan highlights the service's transition of light armored reconnaissance battalions to mobile reconnaissance battalions, which will require a mix of aerial, sea and land systems.

One potential system is the Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle, which is currently in the evaluation process as the service contemplates its requirements.

Originally conceived as a replacement for the Light Armored Vehicle, or LAV--which has been in service since the 1980s and is slated for retirement by the mid-2030s--the ARV isn't mentioned in the 2023 Force Design 2030 update, raising questions about the role it might play in multi-domain reconnaissance.

Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, deputy commandant for combat development and integration, said, "There is a requirement for some type of LAV replacement, we know that for sure. The solution is probably going to be different for different [areas of operations], will be different for different" Marine Expeditionary Forces, he told reporters in June.

For example, a ground vehicle would be of use to Marine units in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, but less so in the Indo-Pacific, he said.

"Right now, we have several preliminary designs going forward," he said. "We're in competition with three vendors. And we will downselect based on what the operational need is for the fleet."

Brig. Gen. Stephen Lightfoot, director of the service's Capabilities Development Directorate, noted that the service is looking at a combination of systems to meet reconnaissance needs.

"We're looking at ultralight vehicles; we're looking at light vehicles; we're looking at potentially light armored vehicles, and that's where the ARV comes in," he said in a Force Design 2030 update media call.

"Small [unmanned aerial systems] and loitering munitions would be able to come off of some of these vehicles, and we'd have the ability to do" command and control, he added. "So, I think that it's certainly not just simply an LAV replacement, it's a family of systems to give us a much greater capability forward, particularly in the littorals."

Heckl said: "Whatever this thing ends up being, whichever one we end up selecting... it's going to be another node in the sense/make sense ecosystem all the way to the tactical edge. And it's going to be an important component of that."

The Corps is currently experimenting with multiple ARV variants, referred to as a family of vehicles. The first variant...