Defense Tech: Cleaning Up After the MRAP Frenzy


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Edited by Christian Lowe \| Contact

Cleaning Up After the MRAP Frenzy

You might remember a few months back -- as many lawmakers got themselves into a lather, treating the MRAP as the solution to every problem with the Iraq War -- we raised some questions about the pace at which they were being fielded and how they were going to be employed effectively during a counter-insurgency campaign.

Well, the dust is starting to clear from the stampede of those who were out to prove they love the troops more than the next congressman, and lo and behold, their zeal caused a few unintended consequences.

Here's an excerpt from the story running at Military.com:

The accelerated pace the military has used to buy and deploy thousands of heavily armored mine resistant vehicles for Iraq and Afghanistan could lead to problems with maintenance and cost overruns on the top priority project, according to congressional investigators.

Congress has appropriated $22 billion to acquire more than 15,000 mine resistant ambush protected vehicles, also known as MRAPs, to protect troops from roadside bombs and other insurgent ambushes, according to the Government Accountability Office report. Defense Secretary Robert Gates designated the program as the department's highest priority acquisition last year.

That meant testing of safety and performance occurred while the vehicles were being bought, raising the possibility costly errors would be uncovered after the fact. More than 100 vehicles the military paid for were not fielded because of problems discovered after their purchase, according to the GAO report made public Wednesday.

"While the department's concurrent approach to producing, testing, and fielding the vehicles has provided an urgently needed operational capability, it has also increased performance, sustainability and cost risks," the GAO concluded.

Read the entire story here.

-- Ward

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Don't expect very many MRAPs to be stored on the pre-positioning ships. Very weak off-road mobility. It was just a few years ago the treadheads were whining that Strykers can't go everywhere a Bradley can go.
MRAPs by themselves are only suited for occupation duty. I suppose you could support them with Stryker MGS, but I don't believe they're buying very many of those. It would probably be cheaper to buy LAVs with 90 mm guns.

Posted by: Will at July 20, 2008 01:39 PM

Oh, the pains of expeditionary warfare....

At the end of WWII the U.S. had on its hands thousands of Sherman tanks for which it had no use. IIRC, they were given away to anyone vaguely friendly to the U.S. and many were summarily dumped at sea.

That's just the cost of doing this kind of business.

I'll suggest that Iraqi's will be driving around MRAPs for some years to come.

For those that we do bring home, what're the EOD folks going to do with them? They're obviously too heavy to use on regular streets and highways (right?). Will that mean they have to be trailered around? Or perhaps will they make there way onboard the prepositioning ships for use in the next adventure?

And, having placed all these vehicles in-service in such a short time is a recipe for one hell of a bill when overhaul and service life replacement come due.

Cheers,
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Posted by: Old Crusty Chief at July 19, 2008 03:40 AM

Yes, a "Frenzy" to protect our solders while the military and political situation settled down.
The MRAP has done its job, saved lives and helped secure an unstable country......
Complaining about the lack of money for the next generation of vehicles annoys me to no end.
How about fighting one war at a time.....

Posted by: Dennis at July 18, 2008 05:38 PM

As predicted...a year ago...by a CRS analyst (page CRS-18 of the report linked below)

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL34026.pdf

Posted by: OD at July 18, 2008 05:12 PM

from defensenews.com

Some of the Pentagon's final batch of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles could be several tons lighter and one or two feet shorter in length, an effort to reduce deadly rollovers and increase mobility, a senior Pentagon official said.

The Pentagon will not purchase the 30-ton MRAP II vehicles, despite spending more than $25 million over a year to develop them, because of mobility and safety concerns....

The roads are caving in. If we could have all the survivability that an MRAP gives you at a lighter weight, the roads would not cave in. We want it to weigh less than it weighs now," the official said.

soumds like they're second guessing themselves a bit to me -greg

Posted by: greg at July 18, 2008 12:42 AM

All a part of the plan. Congress has concurrently told them to make it part of the 2010 baseline budget for the war, not supplemental funds as it has been. No supplemental funds for it in 2010, so this is just the beginning of the issue.

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Posted by: wow gold at July 17, 2008 10:27 PM

The correct question is whether the MRAPs fielded are more or less safe for troops than the vehicles that would otherwise have been used for the same missions.

Congress assumed that it was largely replacing armored and unarmed humvees with MRAPs. One needs a pretty awful MRAP to fail that test.

To the extent the MRAPs are replacing other vehicles with armor in Iraq, or are being used in roles where armor isn't important (like garrison duty), that standard the MRAP has to live up to is presumably much higher.

Of course, all of this is purely theoretical. Designed scientifically controlled comparisons of safety considering all the complexities of deployment in the field at different points in time in evolving wars is essentially impossible, and even if it were possible, would probably be unethical if the costs and benefits were clear.

Posted by: ohwilleke at July 17, 2008 06:02 PM

MRAP is better than the Humvee. It has it's niche. It might be, however, just a niche vehicle. Time will tell.

Posted by: Brad at July 17, 2008 05:38 PM

Cleaning Up After the MRAP Frenzy

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