The Marines had initially planned to buy over 1,100 Expeditionary Fighting Vehicles, but later halved its order to 573 vehicles, only to see the program cancel led outright.

Amos did not spell out exactly how many of the new amphibious vehicles the service planned to buy, but said the service still had a requirement to transport 12 battalions of Marines to shore by sea or by plane.

“We’re going to get one opportunity to do this right,” he said. “So I want to make sure when we go to Congress with the requirement that Congress looks at it and says, okay.”

After the new ACV enters into production, the Marines also plan to start work on a cheaper new personnel carrier that would be used to transport troops on the ground. Amos said the service would also maintain some undefined number of existing vehicles and keep them running to save money.

He underscored the importance of a Humvee replacement program, and said the Marines could expand their plans to buy 5,000 of the new trucks in later years.