BALTIMORE — As thousands of mine resistant, ambush protected vehicles are rushed to the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan, military officials say that the enemy already has found ways to beat the heavily armored trucks, known as MRAPs.
“The enemy has struggled some with our use of MRAP,” said Brig. Gen. James Kessler, commander of the 2nd Marine logistics group with the II Marine Expeditionary Force. “They are finding ways to defeat it,” he told a recent industry conference hosted by the Marine Corps Systems Command.
The U.S. military is partly to blame for the enemy overcoming the MRAP because of its willingness to talk openly about new weapons systems, said Brig. Gen. Michael Brogan, commander of the Marine Corps Systems Command.
“If there’s anything that MRAP has taught us, it’s that we are absolutely horrible at operational security. We’re busy telling people in the media exactly what sort of weapon can defeat that new vehicle. They [the enemy] are incredibly savvy at using the media and using information technology,” Brogan said.
“It turns out that the enemy is going much bolder than we anticipated,” agreed Paul Mann, MRAP program manager. “The enemy is adaptive; we must be more adaptive than the enemy.”
Still, officials continue to praise the high level of protection MRAP provides. The truck’s V-shaped hull deflects bomb blasts away from the cabin, a feature that commanders say has helped save many lives.
Kessler recounted one notable incident that occurred during his deployment to Iraq. A bomb disposal team had been sent out in an MRAP to disable an improvised explosive device and struck one on the way. The 45,000-pound vehicle was launched high into the air, and landed on its side. Inside were the driver and three explosive ordnance disposal technicians, Kessler said. Two were evacuated for medical care, but were able to return to combat the next day. The other two walked away from the blast with minor injuries. Those four service members are alive today because of the MRAP, Kessler asserted.
Large numbers of these vehicles are just now starting to see action in theater — several years after the military first identified the need for a bomb resistant platform.
“It’s only been in the last few months that massive quantities are now driving all around Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Mann.
The program office overseeing MRAP was able to quickly boost production this fiscal year, thanks to $23 billion in funding from Congress, Mann said. The office had been allocated funds in fiscal years 2006 and 2007, but this year was “the big investment.” As of May, $18 billion had been committed and officials had signed contracts for 14,000 vehicles. The military plans to purchase between 15,000 and 19,000.
Today, MRAP is being produced at a rate of about 1,000 vehicles per month. But as the fiscal year comes to a close, production will shift into a lower gear, he said. “We’re probably going from about 1,000 per month down to 600 or 700 per month by the fall.”
There has been considerable speculation about the future of the MRAP after U.S. forces leave Iraq and Afghanistan. The Marine Corps in particular doesn’t see a clear need for the vehicle beyond the current conflict.
“The Marine Corps never had a requirement for MRAP,” said Gordon Taylor, who oversees ground transportation and engineer systems at Marine Corps Systems Command. Service officials are concentrating on developing a future family of light tactical vehicles beyond MRAP. “We’re designing our new fleet for a different environment,” Taylor told National Defense.
David Branham, Marine Corps Systems Command spokesman, says the service is considering “shrink wrapping” the trucks and storing them in U.S. depots and Norwegian caves after the military leaves Iraq.
Several other officials at the conference characterized the MRAP as a “theater specific, niche vehicle” that is unlikely to be widely used by the Marine Corps in future conflicts.
“MRAP is not a panacea,” Mann noted. “We have to look into the future; MRAP is clearly the present today.”
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