MRAP Vehicles
Bringing our troops home safely— Mine Resistant Ambush Protected armored vehicles!
The most lethal weapons being used against US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are improvised explosive devices and roadside ambushes with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machineguns. The objective of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) program is to create vehicles that can survive either form of attack. The Department of Defense’s (DoD) program to rapidly procure combat-ready MRAP armored vehicles is a remarkable example of short-circuiting the usual long program to procure a new type of combat vehicle.
Realizing the urgent need to produce and deploy large numbers of MRAPs to the troops in the field, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates short circuited the usual procurement system and instead simply issued a specification indicating what a MRAP has to do and its capabilities are to withstand certain elements with no other requirements. Since a MRAP is basically a heavy-duty truck that has been modified to have an armored body and a special V-shaped bottom to its hull, any company could contract to build MRAPs so long as they met the basic specifications without regard to details of construction.
Seven companies submitted their designs, which were approved for expedited production and large orders for all of the different designs were issued. As a result, large numbers of MRAPs have been produced and issued to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, saving large numbers of lives. The US Army plans to increase its fleet of MRAP vehicles from the initial 2,300 to 17,700. The Marines’ allocation will remain at 3,400 and special operations forces will receive about 300 (170 have already been ordered). This plan will virtually phase out the HMMWV (high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle) from use in combat patrols and high-risk missions.
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