Two new MRAP contracts

Two new MRAP contracts were awarded on Thursday, one to General Dynamics for 773 RG-31s and the other to BAE Systems for 40 RG-33s.

The RG-31 has proved the MRAP of choice for the rough terrain of Afghanistan, according to reports. FPI fanatics who were hoping to see the Cheetah purchased for use in Afghanistan should probably consider their hopes dashed.



General Dynamics is the clear winner in terms of the number of vehicles ordered, and this may be the very last order for MRAP vehicles by the U.S. government. Though General Dynamics partnered with Force Protection for the production of the Cougar, I believe this is the first MRAP production contract for GD since I started keeping track.



BAE's portion of the money pie is disproportionately large because they are providing specially modified vehicles.

Source: Defenselink.mil

Virtual training for IED removal

NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Daytona Beach, FL, United States, 01/15/2008 - In direct response to an urgent need from the Army’s engineer school in Ft. Hood, Texas, the first-ever Virtual Route Clearance Trainer (VRCT) to support soldiers who operate the U.S. Army’s newly introduced MRAP family of vehicles has been developed.

Raydon developed and delivered the first VRCT to the field 90 days from contract award. The U.S. military is currently utilizing fewer than 500 MRAP vehicles, but has placed orders for the production of an additional 10,000.

The only one of its kind, the VRCT is specifically designed to prepare soldiers who will operate the Mine Protected Clearance Vehicles (MPCV) Buffalo, Vehicle Mounted Mine Detectors (VMMD) Husky, and the Medium Mine Protected Vehicles (MMPV) RG-31, which interrogate, spot, mark and sweep for IEDs and hidden land mines in Iraq.
(Newswiretoday.com)

I'd imagine a training program like this one would benefit from frequent upgrades as new methods are used to conceal IEDs. In any case, it probably helps if a trainee has experience at identifying certain types of known threat. Dealing with the novel stuff comes with field experience, no doubt.

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The RG-31 Charger

As much as I've written about MRAPs over the past few months (though I'm sure others have written still more than I have on the topic), I missed the name of the RG-31 until reading Rich Smith's story that I highlighted in the preceding blog entry ("The JLTV sweepstakes").

Smith referred to the name offhand--I did not know at first which vehicle carried that name. After a brief hunt, I found confirmation that it refers to the General Dynamics RG-31.

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Caiman MRAP still in the queue

Of all the MRAP vehicles announced thus far, the Armor Holdings/BAE Caiman is one with the least imprint on the news so far. I've only been able to find one picture of the Caiman, a photo that looks like it came from an early road-test before the vehicle received its full complement of features (I suspect conventional tires on the model in the photo, for example).

Part of the information hole comes from the fact that the manufacturer was purchases by another player in the MRAP competition, BAE Systems. BAE's RG-31 and RG-33 vehicles occupy a prominent place in the news, in contrast. Do an MRAP image search and you're about as likely to recover a BAE image as a Force Protection one (Force Protection's Cougar is the media darling thus far).

With information so scant, it seems worth reporting this obscure tidbit that was announced in the news today:

In the most recent contract, BAE Systems Land Systems in South Africa, through its partnership with General Dynamics Land Systems Canada (GDLS-C), was awarded a $135 million order for 600 Category II RG31 Mk5E vehicles for the Marines. The vehicle is an extended version of the RG31 Mk5 currently in service and which has already proven to be highly effective against mines, IEDs and ballistic threats encountered by US and allied forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And with the recent acquisition of Armor Holdings, BAE Systems will be building 1,170 MRAPS vehicles based on the Caiman family of medium tactical vehicles following a $518.5 million order for 1,154 Category I and 16 Category II vehicles placed in July.

(Webwire)

It is impressive, on its face, that Armor Holdings garnered a bigger vehicle order from MRAP I than did BAE prior to the acquisition. The Armor Holdings contract seems substantially more expensive per vehicle, using the total contract amount divided by the number of vehicles ordered as a rough estimate.

BAE=$225,000

AH=$443,000

Did the Caiman perform particularly well with testing (better than the BAE vehicles, anyway) or is there some other reason for the surface disparity?

RG-31 MRAP: Canadian promo video

Aside from all that French, it's a decent production!