Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Defense News
March 31, 2008
Pg. 1
By Kris Osborn
The number of Iraqi roadside-bomb attacks featuring a particularly deadly kind of explosive spiked in January and March, renewing U.S. Army plans to buy heavily protected Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles.
In 2006, enthusiasm for the 14- to 24-ton vehicles soared among DoD officials and lawmakers, who laid plans to buy up to 23,000 across the services. But the fervor waned toward the end of 2007 amid mobility problems and uncertainty about just how many MRAPs would be needed.
Then came January, and a spate of attacks that used explosively formed penetrators (EFPs), whose molten metal warheads can penetrate light armor, said Christine Devries, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon’s Joint IED Defeat Organization.
In mid-February, Army generals in Iraq sent a report asking for more MRAPs to Lt. Gen. Raymond Odeirno, commanding general of III Corps, who signed the report and forwarded it to Army Headquarters in Washington.
The report led the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, which sets procurement numbers for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, on Feb. 22 to raise the ceiling for Army purchases of MRAPs by 2,000 to 12,000, said Lt. Col. Martin Downie, Army spokesman.
The Army still wants ultimately to buy 17,770 of the vehicles, Downie said.
New Bomb Tactics
Overall, roadside bomb attacks in Iraq are down from last year, Devries said. But attacks using the deadly EFPs matched 2007 levels in January and March, Devries said. She would not give exact numbers, calling that a secret.
“March 2008 is a higher month for EFPs, but I would not call it a trend,” Devries said. “We’ve seen a few more EFPs, but the casualty rates [number of people killed or injured] have not changed appreciably.”
Devries said EFPs represent a small percentage of the bomb attacks against coalition forces, and such bombs are “not easy to make, and they can’t just be dropped along the side of the road and be effective.”
Yet more weapons are being used in each attack. Typically, insurgents take multiple EFPs, position them in foam to look like the surrounding terrain and angle them to do the most damage to a vehicle.
“We are seeing anywhere from three- to seven-array EFPs. These are attacks where one explosion will fire three, four, five, six or seven projectiles at the same time,” said Cmdr. Scott Rye, a spokesman for Multi-National Force-Iraq in Baghdad.
In mid-March, insurgents ambushed an Armored Security Vehicle (ASV) with a combination of nine IEDs and EFPs, injuring its four occupants. Emergency responders wondered whether the soldiers, several of whom lost limbs in the explosion, might have fared better in an MRAP; the ASV vehicle was completely destroyed, they said.
EFPs that can tear through more lightly armored Humvees and trucks have been less effective against MRAPs, of which there are more than 3,000 in theater and thousands more on the way in the first half of the year.
“The MRAPs are the best protection we have. Their overall design makes them superior to other troop transport vehicles,” Rye said. “MRAP vehicles carrying soldiers on their missions continue to encounter the enemy. We have been attacked by EFPs and our guys have come back alive.”
Chris Chambers, vice president of medium and heavy vehicles for BAE Systems Mobility and Protection Systems, said in hundreds of attacks, including “tens of significant attacks,” no one has been killed while riding in the company’s Caiman MRAPs. About 700 Caimans are in Iraq, with 2,800 on order. That includes a $715 million order for 1,024 Caiman and 447 RG33 MRAPs placed March 14, to be delivered by November.
Since December, MRAPs are being built with beefed-up suspensions to handle even more armor protection against EFPs and new armor, the senior Marine Corps official said.
MRAP Plans
In February, MRAP makers turned out 1,428 vehicles, a one-month record, and will continue to produce more than 1,000 vehicles a month through fall, said the senior Marine Corps official. But that could be the end of the line for the sturdy vehicles.
“Come fall, we will start ramping down production,” a senior Marine Corps official said. “There are over 10,000 MRAPs on order for the Army. Depending on how stable the requirement becomes, we only have 1,500 vehicles left to buy to get the Army up to 12,000.”
The services are now mulling their plans for tactical vehicles. A March 19 memo from the Pentagon Comptroller’s office ordered the Army and Marine Corps to lay out their 12-year efforts to develop and buy MRAPs and other tactical wheeled vehicles.
The memo notes that ASVs, Strykers and MRAPs perform similar missions. Army officials wonder whether they will continue to face roadside bombs in the decades that the MRAPs will be in service, though recent doctrine changes show an expectation of at least 15 years of war. The White House has vowed to keep troops in Iraq for years, but a new president could change that, which could affect MRAP requirements.
The Army MRAP officials are crafting their MRAP plan to be presented to the vice chief of staff of the Army in two weeks, Downie said.
“We know that this capability has a place in the future Army, but we haven’t yet determined where it fits in the structure,” he said.
As for the Marines, in November the Corps reduced its MRAP purchase plans by about half, to 2,225 vehicles, citing the lumbering vehicles’ difficulty in getting around, especially off-road. The service does not currently plan to boost that number, service spokesman Bill Johnson-Miles said.
Nonetheless, Marine Corps acquisition leaders believe the MRAP has a role in the service’s future.
“The war fighters require highly survivable vehicles,” the senior Marine Corps official said.
March 31, 2008
Pg. 1
By Kris Osborn
The number of Iraqi roadside-bomb attacks featuring a particularly deadly kind of explosive spiked in January and March, renewing U.S. Army plans to buy heavily protected Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles.
In 2006, enthusiasm for the 14- to 24-ton vehicles soared among DoD officials and lawmakers, who laid plans to buy up to 23,000 across the services. But the fervor waned toward the end of 2007 amid mobility problems and uncertainty about just how many MRAPs would be needed.
Then came January, and a spate of attacks that used explosively formed penetrators (EFPs), whose molten metal warheads can penetrate light armor, said Christine Devries, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon’s Joint IED Defeat Organization.
In mid-February, Army generals in Iraq sent a report asking for more MRAPs to Lt. Gen. Raymond Odeirno, commanding general of III Corps, who signed the report and forwarded it to Army Headquarters in Washington.
The report led the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, which sets procurement numbers for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, on Feb. 22 to raise the ceiling for Army purchases of MRAPs by 2,000 to 12,000, said Lt. Col. Martin Downie, Army spokesman.
The Army still wants ultimately to buy 17,770 of the vehicles, Downie said.
New Bomb Tactics
Overall, roadside bomb attacks in Iraq are down from last year, Devries said. But attacks using the deadly EFPs matched 2007 levels in January and March, Devries said. She would not give exact numbers, calling that a secret.
“March 2008 is a higher month for EFPs, but I would not call it a trend,” Devries said. “We’ve seen a few more EFPs, but the casualty rates [number of people killed or injured] have not changed appreciably.”
Devries said EFPs represent a small percentage of the bomb attacks against coalition forces, and such bombs are “not easy to make, and they can’t just be dropped along the side of the road and be effective.”
Yet more weapons are being used in each attack. Typically, insurgents take multiple EFPs, position them in foam to look like the surrounding terrain and angle them to do the most damage to a vehicle.
“We are seeing anywhere from three- to seven-array EFPs. These are attacks where one explosion will fire three, four, five, six or seven projectiles at the same time,” said Cmdr. Scott Rye, a spokesman for Multi-National Force-Iraq in Baghdad.
In mid-March, insurgents ambushed an Armored Security Vehicle (ASV) with a combination of nine IEDs and EFPs, injuring its four occupants. Emergency responders wondered whether the soldiers, several of whom lost limbs in the explosion, might have fared better in an MRAP; the ASV vehicle was completely destroyed, they said.
EFPs that can tear through more lightly armored Humvees and trucks have been less effective against MRAPs, of which there are more than 3,000 in theater and thousands more on the way in the first half of the year.
“The MRAPs are the best protection we have. Their overall design makes them superior to other troop transport vehicles,” Rye said. “MRAP vehicles carrying soldiers on their missions continue to encounter the enemy. We have been attacked by EFPs and our guys have come back alive.”
Chris Chambers, vice president of medium and heavy vehicles for BAE Systems Mobility and Protection Systems, said in hundreds of attacks, including “tens of significant attacks,” no one has been killed while riding in the company’s Caiman MRAPs. About 700 Caimans are in Iraq, with 2,800 on order. That includes a $715 million order for 1,024 Caiman and 447 RG33 MRAPs placed March 14, to be delivered by November.
Since December, MRAPs are being built with beefed-up suspensions to handle even more armor protection against EFPs and new armor, the senior Marine Corps official said.
MRAP Plans
In February, MRAP makers turned out 1,428 vehicles, a one-month record, and will continue to produce more than 1,000 vehicles a month through fall, said the senior Marine Corps official. But that could be the end of the line for the sturdy vehicles.
“Come fall, we will start ramping down production,” a senior Marine Corps official said. “There are over 10,000 MRAPs on order for the Army. Depending on how stable the requirement becomes, we only have 1,500 vehicles left to buy to get the Army up to 12,000.”
The services are now mulling their plans for tactical vehicles. A March 19 memo from the Pentagon Comptroller’s office ordered the Army and Marine Corps to lay out their 12-year efforts to develop and buy MRAPs and other tactical wheeled vehicles.
The memo notes that ASVs, Strykers and MRAPs perform similar missions. Army officials wonder whether they will continue to face roadside bombs in the decades that the MRAPs will be in service, though recent doctrine changes show an expectation of at least 15 years of war. The White House has vowed to keep troops in Iraq for years, but a new president could change that, which could affect MRAP requirements.
The Army MRAP officials are crafting their MRAP plan to be presented to the vice chief of staff of the Army in two weeks, Downie said.
“We know that this capability has a place in the future Army, but we haven’t yet determined where it fits in the structure,” he said.
As for the Marines, in November the Corps reduced its MRAP purchase plans by about half, to 2,225 vehicles, citing the lumbering vehicles’ difficulty in getting around, especially off-road. The service does not currently plan to boost that number, service spokesman Bill Johnson-Miles said.
Nonetheless, Marine Corps acquisition leaders believe the MRAP has a role in the service’s future.
“The war fighters require highly survivable vehicles,” the senior Marine Corps official said.