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Amphibious operations (the landing of personnel, equipment and supplies from ships onto a hostile shore) are considered by military tacticians to be the most complex and difficult of all military operations. The U.S. Marine Corps is the military organization in America charged with this responsibility. Formerly known as the LVTP7A1, the FMC manufactured AAVP7A1 now has the role of an Assault Amphibious Vehicle, Personnel, to counter any hostile threat during landing operations. This versatile vehicle can navigate in the ocean waves 3 meters high while carrying 25 fully equipped Marines and can even withstand total immersion without sinking. It is a very large tracked vehicle, being almost the same length as the U.S. M1A1 Abrams main battle tank. The latest version is equipped with a newly designed turret known as the "Upgunned Weapons station", which is manufactured by the Cadillac Gage firm, in America. The turret is a one man armament station mounting the MK 19 Model-3 40mm (grenade) machine gun and a coaxially mounted M2 heavy barrel .50 caliber machine gun. The primary mode of operation for the armament station is manual. However, in azimuth the system incorporates a Power Assist Travers (PAT) mechanism. The PAT enables the gunner to quick slew under power at a minimum rate of 45 deg./sec., and then manually fine lay his weapons on the target. This highly formidable weapon station replaces the existing M85 .50 cal. unit currently incorporated on the Marine Corps fleet of AAVP7A1.
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