NPR: New Vehicles for Marines May Need Even More Armor

New Vehicles for Marines May Need Even More Armor

The Marine Corps has ordered 1,200 more of a type of vehicle with a good record of protecting troops against the improvised explosive devices used in roadside attacks in Iraq. However, the new vehicles, known as Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAPs, might not be enough to give the troops the protection they need.

On Sunday, The Washington Post reported that insurgents in Iraq are using bigger and better bombs that have increased the number of U.S. troops killed as opposed to wounded in roadside attacks. Last week, USA Today reported that Pentagon documents show the MRAPs may not be able to withstand these new types of explosives, known as explosively formed penetrators, and may need additional armor.

Because of the MRAPs' success against the improvised explosive devices, the Pentagon documents suggest insurgents can be expected to use significantly more of the explosively formed penetrators. The military has tested armor that can withstand the new explosive, but it will add to the cost of the vehicles.

The Marine Corps Times reports that the military has plans to order 23,200 MRAPs by 2010. The Marines' latest $623 million purchase from a subsidiary of Navistar International means that 1,700 of the vehicles have been ordered since 2003.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently called the effort to get more MRAPs into the field the military's highest purchasing priority.

But Jason Sherman of InsideDefense writes that the military's "mad rush" to get as many of the MRAPs in the field as possible "could stall due to short supplies of key industrial resources such as manpower and steel, which may prompt the Defense Department to divert key commodities away from other weapons programs, according to defense officials and documents."

9:59 AM ET | 06- 4-2007 | permalink

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