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Originally Posted by JCT
The definition of amphibious is something that can live or operate on land or water. There is nothing that says it must completely submerge under the water, I think you would call that a submarine.
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Actually the science of builogy says that they, the amphibians, MUST be completely submerged to enable them to subsist. Almost invariably the amphibians feed from the water, and the tactic used by the crocodile species is to attack from a submerged position.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JCT
FutureTank does raise a good point in that most naval infantry/marines come from the sea, a point not raised in the earlier posts. Should they have a true amphibous IFV that can come across the surf (with the attendant compromises & their drawbacks) or should they be transported from ship to shore via some sort of landing craft (and thereby be more optimized for land combat)? $$ and each service's philosophy will determine that. In your opinion, which is preferable?
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Who is talking about the surf? The so transported infantry have to get to the surf FIRST! The EFV is advertized as being able to deliver infantry in an assault so delivered from "beyond horizon". This is not some abstract distance, bit varies from 21 to as far as 70 nautical miles. What this means is that the EFV with a speed of 15knots would be very observable on the survace (by virtue of the wake it generates) for over an hour at least.
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Originally Posted by JCT
The BTR/BMP series & LAV series vehicles are calm water vehicles, i.e., they can cross lakes and rivers where there is not a strong current. The AAV7P amtrack can cross surf zones and come over the beach, although they are limited to certain sea states and maximum wave roughness that they can endure.
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The AAV7 vehicles can not "cross surf zones", but can negotiate some surf heights depending on current and beach conditions. This varies from osean/sea to ocean/sea, and from season to season. In general, the wave needs to be at about 2m, and certainly no larger then 4m. On the other hand the fully amphibious vehicle would also have problems witht he surf on some beaches, but far less so since it can ground itself and use tracks to make it's way up the beach.
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Originally Posted by JCT
The assault section in each USMC rifle company is equipped with the SMAW which has an HE warhead roughly equivalent to an AT-4. Its capable of making an entry into a building and as a bonus can shoot thermobaric rounds. The assaultmen are also trained in basic demo and have the capability of building & setting explosive charges.
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I'm not sure how this is relevant to the question.