The Interim Fast Attack Vehicle (IFAV) is a reconnaissance vehicle deployed and used by the United States Marine Force Recon and

Marine Expeditionary Unit A Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU, pronounced as one syllable "" IPA: ) is the smallest Marine air-ground task force, air-ground task force (MAGTF) in the United States Fleet Marine Force.Desert Patrol Vehicle The Desert Patrol Vehicle (DPV), formerly called the Fast Attack Vehicle (FAV), is a Chenowth high-speed, lightly armored sandrail-like vehicle first used in combat during the Gulf War in 1991. Due to their dash speed and off-road mobility, the ...

s (formerly known as Fast Attack Vehicles or FAVs for short), popularized by the

Navy SEALs The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main funct ...

as the "black

dune buggy A dune buggy — also known as a beach buggy — is a recreational off-road vehicle with large wheels, and wide tires, designed for use on sand dunes, beaches, off-road or desert recreation. The design is usually a topless vehicle with a rear ...

." However, this vehicle lacked cargo capacity and firepower, so Force Recon moved to a militarized

Mercedes-Benz G-Class The Mercedes-Benz G-Class, colloquially known as the G-Wagon or G-Wagen (as an abbreviation of Geländewagen), is a four-wheel drive luxury SUV manufactured by Magna Steyr (formerly Steyr-Daimler-Puch) in Graz, Styria, Austria, and sold by Mercede ...

, also known as a G-wagen, 290 GD Turbodiesel 4×4, a much more traditional "

Jeep Jeep is an American automobile brand, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with other assets, from its previous owner, American Motors Co ...

" type truck. The vehicle has only minimal armor, but numerous defensive weapons, including a Mk 19 automatic 40 mm

grenade launcher A grenade launcher is a weapon that fires a specially designed, large caliber projectile, often with an explosive, Smoke screen, smoke, or tear gas, gas warhead. Today, the term generally refers to a class of dedicated firearms firing unitary gre ...

. This vehicle is manufactured by

Magna Steyr Magna Steyr Fahrzeugtechnik GmbH & Co KG is an automobile manufacturer based in Graz, Styria, Austria, where its primary manufacturing plant is also located. It is a subsidiary of Canadian-based Magna International and was previously part of th ...

(

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

) for

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

(

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

). One of the important abilities of this vehicle, was that it was possible transport by air on USMC aircraft such as the CH-46 Sea Knight, CH-53 Super Stallion, and

V-22 Osprey The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American multi-use, tiltrotor military transport aircraft, military transport and cargo aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and short takeoff and landing (STOL) capabilities. It is designed ...

. The IFAV has since been replaced by the

Internally Transportable Light Strike Vehicle The M1161 Growler is officially the Internally Transportable Light Strike Vehicle (ITV-LSV) designed specifically for use with the V-22 Osprey, Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. The M1161 and M1163 were the only tactical vehicles certified to fly in th ...

(ITV-LSV).

Overview

The

USMC The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary ...

Interim Fast Attack Vehicle (IFAV) is a modified version of the Mercedes-Benz Geländewagen 290. It replaces the modified M151A2 1/4 ton truck jeep used by the Marines as a FAV in the 1990s. The U.S.

Marine Corps Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included raiding ashore (often in supp ...

acquired 157 of the IFAVs distributed as follows: *

Marine Expeditionary Force A Marine expeditionary force (MEF), formerly known as a Marine amphibious force, is the largest type of a Marine air-ground task force. A MEF is the largest building block of United States Marine Corps combat power. __TOC__ Structure A MEF is l ...

(MEF)

Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps and is one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. It is on the Southern California coast in San Diego County and is bordered by ...

, CA (33) *MEF

Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune ( or ) is a United States military training facility in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Its of beaches make the base a major area for amphibious assault training, and its location between two deep-water ports ( ...

, NC (25) *MEF on

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

, Japan (27) *17th Force Recon, Afghanistan (22) *3rd Force Recon Bn, Iraq (23) *1st Provisional DMZ Police Company, Korea (15) *various miscellaneous (12)

References

External links

{{commons category, Interim Fast Attack Vehicle * GlobalSecurity.org
LKW gl leicht Wolf: Interim Fast Attack Vehicles (IFAV)
* Popular Mechanics
All the Combat Vehicles of the U.S. Military in One Giant Poster
IFAV listed in Special Operations Military light utility vehicles Mercedes-Benz G-Class Military vehicles introduced in the 1990s Vehicles designed for aircraft carriage

Overview

See also

References

External links