MARINE CORPS TRAINING AREA BELLOWS, Hawaii – The Ultra

MARINE CORPS TRAINING AREA BELLOWS, Hawaii – The Ultra Heavy-Lift Amphibious Connector prepares to enter the well deck of the USS Rushmore to load up heavy equipment during its first mission off the coast of Marine Corps Training Area Bellows, July 11, 2014 during a Marine Corps Advanced Warfighting Experiment. The AWE is the culmination of a decade of progressive experimentation conducted by the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab (MCWL) where they are testing potential future technologies, solutions and concepts to future Marine Air Ground Task Force challenges. The AWE is taking part during the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise 2014, the world’s largest international maritime exercise. The UHAC prototype is a ship-to-shore connector and is half the size of the intended machine. Currently, the UHAC travels at four knots using a track system with floatation-like pads that propels itself through different terrain. For its first mission, the UHAC paddled two miles off the coast and loaded up an internally transportable vehicle (ITV) aboard the USS Rushmore before disembarking and headed back to MCTAB to offload the vehicle. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Matthew J. Bragg)