General Dynamics delivers first MRAP vehicles designed to deflect blasts from IEDs

General Dynamics ^ | Jul 11, 2007

[bnelson44]

WASHINGTON: Delivery delays have spurred the Pentagon to consider ordering up to 20,000 more armored vehicles needed to protect U.S. soldiers from roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hampered by industry production constraints, the Marine Corps may launch a second competitive bid this month for upgraded Mine Resistant Ambush Protected, or MRAP, vehicles, according to a government document.

Production delays have put the Pentagon behind schedule on deployment so the second bid would aim to attract companies that may not have bid on the first go-round.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/13/business/NA-FIN-US-Pentagon-Armored-Vehicles.php

[glorgau]

Amazing that it’s taken so long to field something better than an up-armored humvee.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

...first MRAP vehicles designed to deflect blasts from IEDs

Can I get one of these for commuting on the D.C. beltway?

[BJungNan]

[alloysteel]

Super-jeep.

Not only munitions-resistant, but able to ford streams and climb steep terrain.

What they could have done with something like this during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944.

But the technology simply did not exist then.

[bnelson44]

DefRev First Look: BAE Systems RG33 Series MRAP Vehicles

[BJungNan]

[padre35]

It’s not as simple as just going to the GM showroom, the MRAP’s are a bitch to ship from a logistics standpoint, they are not designed for air transport with what we currently have, they are going to either be shipped via Russian contractor via a Kondor, or by container ship.

I am glad they finally got them however, that is good news indeed.

[jws3sticks]

My fear is they will just build bigger IEDs

[BJungNan]

[ac-rep]

As someone who fought in Iraq,I still believe the best way to prevent IED attacks is to put a cap into somebody whilst they are in the process of burying them.

[BJungNan]

So what happens when they blow the tires and axel off the thing?

[omega4179]

Hmmvs are nothing more than an SUV and it is a disgrace that they have been used as APCs since Somalia or ever again since then anyway. JMHO.

[bnelson44]

I was talking to my son, the tanker, about the MRAP and he wasn’t that impressed ;->

[bnelson44]

Photo: A US Marine Corps RG-31 Cougar rests on its front axel after an improvised explosive device detonated under the vehicle near Camp Taqaddum, Iraq, Jan. 6. The IED detonated directly under the vehicle; however, the blast was pushed outward instead of directly straight up due to the vehicle's “V” –shaped undercarriage. Of the five service members in the vehicle, two received concussions and two others received minor burns. (Photo by: Courtesy photo by 8th Engineer Support Battalion)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Is that the one?

Found a You Tube of some Vehicles that are Mine Resistant but .....

Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles

[Uriah_lost]

This is the first delivery of General Dynamic’s product. There are lots of others already in service, based largely on the South African’s designs. Good to have more production ramping up but don’t think that this has been completely ignored. I know it’s tempting(and fashionable here) to see everything in as negative a way as possible but it is not always so.

[bnelson44]

Those are older vehicles.

[bnelson44]

Looks like they also will be asking for more bidders and increase production even more.

Good to see.