Why the U.S. Marine Corps is Strapping LAVs to the flight Deck

The Corps already has fired its rocket artillery from a Navy ship. Now the Corps is experimenting with strapping light armored vehicles, or LAVs, to the flight deck to counter small boat and other threats.

In September, Marines with the 31st Marine Expeditionary, or MEU, embarked aboard the amphibious assault ship Wasp parked LAVs on the flight deck for a ship defense drill in the South China Sea that was designed to mimic the MEU’s voyage through dangerous waters.