Top U.S. Marine defends $13 billion amphibious tank

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Marines must be able to storm enemy shores in amphibious vehicles such as those being built by General Dynamics Corp, the top Marine said, defending a $13.2 billion program called into question by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

General Dynamics' Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, or EFV, "is inextricably linked to that capability and an absolutely critical requirement for us," General James Conway, the Marine Corps commandant, told reporters at a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday.

"And, by the way, China has already fielded a similar vehicle and is building more," he said.

As conceived by the Marine Corps, the EFV is to be able to transport up to 18 combat-ready Marines at high speeds on both land and sea. It would have advanced communications capabilities, provide increased armored protection against rocket-propelled grenades and improvised explosive devices, and deliver lethal firepower up to 2,000 meters (2,200 yards).

But Gates, in an April 17 speech to the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, said he had directed Pentagon planners to take a "realistic" view of the need for landing large numbers of troops "so we can better gauge our requirements."

Questions about this need would be part of a once-every-four-year review of the U.S. Defense Department's strategies, capabilities and forces to address today's conflicts and tomorrow's threats, Gates said.

It had been strategically valuable to have put a flotilla of Marines off Kuwait City during the 1990-1991 Gulf War, forcing then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to tie up divisions on the Saudi border and on the coast.

"But we have to take a hard look at where it would be necessary or sensible to launch another major amphibious action again," Gates had said on the last stop of a weeklong tour of the armed services' war colleges to promote revamped budget priorities. "In the 21st century, how much amphibious capability do we need?"