This is the US Marine Corp's new 700bhp, 8x8 amphibious assault vehicle

The US Marine Corps will soon get a very special delivery from BAE Systems: 16 prototype Amphibious Combat Vehicles. Each with 700bhp. 

Yep, news reaches TopGear.com that BAE, along with Iveco Defence Vehicles, has been awarded the contract to build – from the ground up – and deliver these Marine assault vehicles next year.

And they’re quite the assault vehicles. The ‘ACV 1.1’ sits on a new, bespoke platform designed by Iveco, featuring a six-cylinder, 700 horsepower ‘pack’ - military-speak, we think, for 'engine' - that is significantly more powerful than the current Assault Amphibious Vehicle. Because you don't leave the military out of the great horsepower race.

This ocean-capable 8x8 also gets a suspended interior seat structure that'll fit 13 Marines, blast-mitigating positions for a crew of three, and improved “survivability and force protection” over current vehicles. Which means 'basically indestructible', we're guessing.

“The team has conducted extensive risk mitigation testing and evaluation for swim, land mobility and survivability capabilities,” we’re told, that apparently proves just how mega this thing will be.

Those 16 prototypes will be delivered to the Marine Corps for testing beginning in the second half of 2016. So if you were planning any amphibious naughtiness, baddies, it might be best get it out the way in the next six months or so.