U.S. Marines Fire LAV-25 From USS Portland Deck Off Guam
U.S. Marines from Battalion Landing Team 3/5 fired a LAV-25 from the flight deck of USS Portland off Guam on April 25, 2026, turning the armored vehicle into a sea-based direct-fire asset in the Pacific Ocean. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service released details on April 27, 2026, after the live-fire exercise took place.
USS Portland in the Pacific Ocean
The drill involved Battalion Landing Team 3/5, assigned to the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, and took place from the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock USS Portland (LPD 27). The Marines used the embarked armored reconnaissance vehicle as a direct-fire capability at sea, rather than in its traditional ashore role.
The LAV-25 is normally used for screening, reconnaissance, security missions, and mobile fire support on land. In this exercise, the vehicle’s 25mm M242 Bushmaster chain gun and supported 7.62mm machine guns were part of a shipboard firing test carried out in the Pacific Ocean.
11th Marine Expeditionary Unit
The 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit was operating with the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations when the exercise took place. The event showed how an armored reconnaissance vehicle with a combat weight of around 13 tons and a maximum road speed exceeding 100 km/h can be pushed into a maritime role that is not part of its usual design.
That makes the April 25 firing a practical test of how the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit could add limited direct-fire support from sea across island chains, where distance and maritime geography shape operations. The exercise stands as the clearest dated use of USS Portland’s flight deck in this role, and it leaves one concrete point for readers watching the unit’s Pacific activity: Battalion Landing Team 3/5 has already demonstrated that a LAV-25 can fire from shipboard position in the 7th Fleet theater.
