Marine Corps will be stuck with using less effective and less protected M1A1 MBTs for the foreseeable future with only one U.S.M.C. Army’s M1A2 SEPv3’s MBTs are too heavy with TUSK and APS to be carried via any U.S.

The main problem with using the LCUs is that it sails at a slow 8 to 11 knots despite its 1,200 nautical mile range. A M1A2 SEPv3 with TUSK, Trophy APS, ballast, and field gear at 80+-tons fully kitted, leaves the Navy’s Landing Craft Utility (the LCU in has three variants), able to carry a 127-metric ton (137 ton) to 183-metric ton (201 ton) payload (or one or two Army M1A2 SEPv3s with TUSK and APS installed) as the only reasonable M1A2 SEPv3 weight-carrying landing craft transport to hit the beach. The Army’s M1A2 SEPv3 weighs in at 66.68-tons basic with no add-on kits (and the LCAC could carry it when operating overloaded) and the M1A2 SEPv3 can weigh in excess of 80-tons with the Tank Urban Survivability Kit (TUSK I or II configurations) and Trophy APS add-on kits installed, six tons more than the allowable on the SSC hovercraft and five tons more than the LCAC operating overloaded. (The LCAC can transport 60-tons normally, or 75 tons when overloaded). Navy’s Landing Craft Air Cushion’s (LCAC) replacement, the Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC), can transport 74-tons at 35 kts. According to TextronMarineSystems®, the U.S.

Modern day tank round