According to the Belgian defense website ArmyRecognition, Textron Systems announced the delivery of the Cottonmouth armored vehicle, which was specially built for the advanced reconnaissance vehicle (ARV) of the US Marine Corps, in line with the construction goal of "Force Design 2030" of the Marine Corps. The prototype was delivered at the Nevada Automobile Test Center (NATC) in Silver Spring, Nevada on February 1 2022.
The Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle (ARV) program of the US Marine Corps aims to provide a new type of armored vehicle for the Marine Corps Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) battalion to replace the LAV series armored reconnaissance vehicles that the Marine Corps planned to phase out in the mid-1930s. At the same time, it is necessary to form a network system with ground robots and drones, which can not only conduct reconnaissance, but also conduct electronic warfare and long-range precision strikes.
On July 6, 20021,16, the Marine Corps signed a 22-month "other transaction agreement" negotiation contract with General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) and Teflon Systems, and delivered the prototype in the first quarter of 2023 (fiscal year). The US Marine Corps will evaluate it six months later.
Teflon claims that Hydroviper has learned from the experience of the first generation Alpha prototype, carried out a driving test of about 5,000 kilometers, and completed the contractor's verification test of its maneuverability, swimming ability, electronic integration and C4UAS mission ability, and delivered the explosion-proof car body to Aberdeen Test Center, and delivered the system integration experiment (SIL) to the Atlantic Naval Information Warfare Center for government evaluation and testing.
Vehicle manufacturing took four months, and the first round of contractor verification test was carried out in Teflon Systems in Greater New Orleans, Louisiana, and finally caught up with the node.
The water snake armored reconnaissance vehicle adopts 6×6 all-wheel drive, with a length of 6.8 meters, a width of 2.9 meters, a height of 3.09 meters and a weight of 16.783 tons. The maximum speed of the vehicle can reach 104.6km/h, and it is amphibious. It can withstand water jet propulsion 1.2 1m, with 2 crew members and 5 marines. It can transport four cars in the next generation LCAC- 100 hovercraft.
The aircraft is designed as a naval sensor node to support expeditionary operations. It adopts an open architecture, integrates a multi-domain command and control suite, and is equipped with a UAV system and a multi-spectral sensor, which can provide seamless communication between the US Navy and the Marine Corps.
Hydroviper armored reconnaissance vehicle is equipped with RS4-J long-range weapon station in Kangsburg. There are many models of this series of weapon stations. The weight of the weapon station itself is 135- 190kg, and the height is between 505 and 765 mm. More than 20,000 systems are purchased by customers all over the world, and advanced multi-channel modular sensor suites are adopted. The weapon station adopts bistable (DLOS) system and the fifth generation open architecture.
It can be easily integrated on various platforms, and the networked fire control system can realize multi-user, multi-weapon station, network and wireless operation, manned unmanned formation and other functions.
The location of the weapon station is 360? , the speed is 90? /sec, pitch angle -20? To +60? , the speed is 70? /sec. It can be equipped with Browning M2 and WKM-B, M249, M240, UKM-2000C and M 134 machine guns, MK 19 and MK47 Grenade launchers, and can also integrate various anti-tank missiles. J stands for Integrated Javelin Kit (JIK), which can install FGM- 148 Javelin missiles.
Water snake armored vehicles can also be equipped with unmanned turrets and mast-type multi-band reconnaissance and surveillance sensors, and patrol missiles and drones will be integrated to enhance situational awareness.
The water snake armored vehicle is also equipped with the iron vision system of Elbit Systems.
This system will collect video images from cameras around armored vehicles, and then superimpose terrain and obstacle information, navigation and combat space symbols to form a unified 360 panorama, which will be displayed on the crew workstation and IronVision helmet display, so that the crew can "see through" the armor of the water snake and obtain a high degree of situational awareness.
General Dynamics Land Systems offered the improved LAV-IIDVH of its Canadian subsidiary LAV-25 armored vehicle to compete with Hydroviper armored vehicle, and won a huge contract worth up to 6.8 billion US dollars, producing 533 vehicles in five years, and will expand various models to meet the needs of the US Marine Corps.