What the Marines needed was a successor to their Amphibious Assault Vehicle, or AAV, that debuted in 1972.

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In this case, yes, they're using this amphibious assault vehicle merely to transport a large number of troops from one post to another.

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But we're just describing to you what I'm looking at -- the charred AAV, an amphibious assault vehicle, is basically one of those armored personnel carriers the Marines are using.

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The Marines were traveling in an amphibious assault vehicle.

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Its future means of performing amphibious assaults (the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle), its principal airborne assault vehicle (the V-22 Osprey) and the backbone of its dedicated ground-support aviation for decades to come (the F-35) would all be eliminated or rendered unaffordable.

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