Posted on 12/10/2004 8:54:04 AM PST by SwordofTruth
More armored vehicles could readily be built, two companies say
By GEORGE EDMONSON
COX NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON -- The manufacturer of Humvees for the U.S. military and the company that adds armor to the utility vehicles are not running near production capacity and are making all that the Pentagon has requested, spokesmen for both companies said.
"If they call and say, 'You know, we really want more,' we'll get it done," said Lee Woodward, a spokesman for AM General, the Indiana company that makes Humvees and the civilian Hummer versions.
At O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt, the Ohio firm that turns specially designed Humvees into fully armored vehicles at a cost of about $70,000 each, spokesman Michael Fox said they, too, can provide more if the government wants them.
Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., said yesterday that the companies could increase production of armored Humvees from 450 a month to 550 by February.
Blaming the shortage on a lack of production capacity, as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld did Wednesday, is "just not true," said Bayh. He said he had told the Pentagon as early as April that more armored Humvees could be built.
"It's essentially a matter of physics," Rumsfeld told the soldiers in his reply on Wednesday. "It isn't a matter of money. It isn't a matter on the part of the Army of desire. It's a matter of production and capability of doing it."
But Bayh, in a telephone conference call with reporters, said the problem was another indication of the administration's underestimation of the risks and demands in Iraq.
"It borders on the naïve," Bayh added.
Yesterday, President Bush led an administrationwide public relations effort to quell the controversy triggered when a soldier sharply questioned Rumsfeld about shortages of armor for combat vehicles in Iraq at a meeting with troops in Kuwait.
In an e-mail circulated yesterday, a reporter for the Chattanooga Times Free Press traveling with the unit whose soldiers challenged Rumsfeld told colleagues that he had collaborated with the troops to formulate tough questions for the Pentagon chief.
But at a White House photo session yesterday, Bush agreed the soldiers' worries were legitimate and said, "The concerns expressed are being addressed.
"We expect our troops to have the best possible equipment."
Bush also said he told families of Marine casualties that he met during a visit to Camp Pendleton, Calif., on Tuesday that "we're doing everything we possibly can to protect your loved ones in a mission which is vital and important.' "
The current monthly production level of armored Humvees is up from as few as 15 in the fall of 2003, said Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita.
According to Army figures, there are almost 19,400 Humvees operating in the Iraq theater. Of those, about 5,900 were armored at the factory and armor was added to about 9,100 of them later.
Other vehicles also lack armor. The House Armed Services Committee released statistics yesterday showing that most transport trucks crisscrossing Iraq to supply the troops don't have armor. Only 10 percent of the 4,814 medium-weight transport trucks have armor, and only 15 percent of the 4,314 heavy transport vehicles do.
The Humvee name comes from the pronunciation of the abbreviation of its prosaic military title: High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle -- HMMWV.
Woodward said AM General -- a descendant of American Motors that once built Rambler automobiles -- has added workers and increased overtime to meet demand.
The number of large Hummers, which share part of the assembly line with Humvees, has been reduced to a level that has no impact on Humvee production, Woodward said. The smaller Hummer SUV is built in a separate building, he added.
Woodward would not detail AM General's current monthly Humvee production figures.
The Humvees to be factory-armored by O'Gara-Hess have some different specifications than the models shipped without armor, Woodward said. So increasing production requires careful planning.
"It's not like making a Big Mac," he said. "There are so many configurations. ... You can't just whip them through like a big grill in a McDonald's."
Besides having increased the number of Humvees it is receiving, the military is also shifting armored ones to Iraq from other areas, including the United States and the Balkans. An Army fact sheet said 282 factory-armored Humvees are on ships headed to Iraq.
And 10 sites have been established, two in Kuwait and eight in Iraq, where armor is added to Humvees, Lt. Gen. Steven Whitcomb told Pentagon reporters yesterday in a teleconference from Kuwait. According to the Army information, 9,134 of 9,386 add-on armor kits in the Iraq theater have been installed.
Whitcomb said the factory-installed armor provides protection that he described as "a bubble." Add-on armor does not protect the Humvee's top and bottom, he added.
In Iraq, the need for more armored Humvees came to the fore in August 2003 when insurgents changed tactics and started using roadside bombs, Whitcomb said.
"What we also can't lose sight of is that the Humvee was a vehicle that was not designed to afford armor protection, nor were most of our trucks, he said. "The only (factory-armored) Humvees -- the high-end ones -- we had were for our military police forces."
The P-I Washington Bureau contributed to this report.
Yup.
Yes, I'll also admit that I wasn't wordy enough to describe the background and I will apologize for that.
I keep wanting to add "villa" "I went home" to your tag line.
Retrofitting vehicles that are already over there is a lot different than producing new vehicles or even retrofitting vehicles stateside.
Rumsfeld should be Donefeld.
Yep.
A job that people must volunteer for at that. Seems to me they don't have to worry about their job, they have the best job security in the entire nation.
Unfortunately, that is the way I feel - the media has been out to get him ever since the start of the war. They didn't get him on Abu Ghraib, they didn't get him on the "missing weapons", but you know as well as I do, these things have a cumulative effect.
I understand President Bush's confidence in him, but this particular issue is being portrayed as an imminent danger to our troops - hits right at the gut.
Sorry if you misinterpreted my post.
Might get too long for a tagline, c, but I appreciate the thought...
My appolgies for over-reacting. I think this is going to blow-over as the media is getting more egg on its face as the facts come out. Such as, the reason for the delay in heading north was that the unit was being equipped with up-armored HUMVEEs. A minor "Opps!".
"Humvee is a jeep replacement.......how many jeeps have been armored up over the past wars ? Zip, nada , none ! "
Bingo!
The intent of the HUMVEE is that of a UTILITY vehicle - that's what the U in HUMVEE stands for. IT was never designed as a "first contact" combat vehicle.
Prior to this go in the desert, the preponderance of armored HUMVEEs were for Militery police (I think that CAV Scouts MAY have had them also, but not sure about that) use only - hardtop, fastback models - fully armored. The remainder were of the utility pickup truck, command vehicle, or medic "cracker box" configuration.
The intent here with this conflict was to "get in, get out, get gone". We now, however, have been drawn into that which we really did not intend upon - that of an occupying force in the midst of an insurgency.
Rummy should just 'fess-up" and say so, instead of blaming industry for operating "At capacity" which as noted above, is a load of crap.
Anyway, now that the lamestream media has been successful in bringing down Bernie Kerik, the Rummy flap is not gonna be the main story, at least for a few days. Let's hope that during those few days, more of the facts will come out about the armored units.
Even so, they're NEVER going to let up: their ultimate goal is not only to bring down Rummy, Condi, and other administration people, they want to bring down the big guy himself - President Bush. What better way for them to do it than to attempt to turn Iraq into another Vietnam.
The election has changed NOTHING with these vermin. The will of the people means nothing. Their ideology trumps all - just look at this charade that's been going on about the Ohio voting "irregularities". What a parade of losers. That C-Span would even give them air time shows you what we're up against.
I worry about exactly the opposite effect. After the Kerik incident, and seeing that the administration was quick to just let Kerik go and move on to someone else, I think the odds of a Rumsfeld resignation over this armor thing have increased.
when blood is in the water, the sharks are the most dangerous.
as you can by many of the posts on this thread - Rumsfeld is in serious trouble. if the "faithful" here are willing to buy into "its all Rumsfeld's fault" on this armor issue, then given that we know that the Dems and the media are salivating to get him and destroy the military effort in iraq, he could be gone if even people in the base are buying this.
The whole issue of assigning blame to the current administration is BS. Defense spending during the 90's was the lowest percent of GDP in recent history and unfortunately the troops are paying for it now. The Dems just nominated a flthy traitor who voted against needed monies for the troops and subsequently they no moral authority on the issue.
Should we cessate any military action until the military is rebuilt after the Clinton dark years? All the readiness reports said that our military could wage a two theatre war at the Clinton force and budget levels. Does anyone believe that to be true?
I don't have to admit that, and I won't. Your comments bely your statement that you are a "Rummy Supporter". You are starting to smell kind of "trollish" to me.
Troll Clean-up on aisle 54 please!
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