Navistar awarded $57 million in MRAP contracts

The Pentagon on Friday awarded Navistar International a pair of contracts totaling about $57 million. Both contracts involve support services for and modifications to existing MaxxPro Cat I MRAP vehicles.

Video: MaxxPros with add-on armor

The moving specimen gets around pretty well despite the added weight.

Navistar's MaxxPro snares series of gov't contracts

The introduction earlier this week of the Navistar's MaxxPro Plus has coincided closely with a series of big contracts meted out Friday by the Navy.

The series of five contract awards each consisted of a "firm-fixed-priced modification" to earlier delivery orders.

The orders totaled $707,017,416. Over $700 million. It would take over 700 Dr. Evils to extort that amount of money.

MaxxPro Plus

This photo from the Navistar site pictures a MaxxPro MRAP with armor add-ons reminiscent of those protecting the Mastiff version of the Force Protection Cougar (used by the British). The accompanying story refers to this week's unveiling of the MaxxPro Plus ... so if the uparmored vehicle pictured is not the MaxxPro Plus--blame Navistar.

clipped from media.navistar.com

Those who derisively call the MaxxPro the "MaxRoll" may anticipate a further heightening of the center of gravity with the armor kit.

Iraq and MRAPs in the news (Japan)

A story in Japan's Mainichi Daily News held content relevant to the waging of the Iraq War as well as a report of the successful service of an MRAP vehicle.

First, a reminder of the depravity of the religious extremists trying to foment violence in Iraq, as teenagers were apprehended after information surfaced that they had been trained for suicide attacks:

The youths, who were not identified, began crying as they were led into the police station and said they were forced into agreeing to the suicide attacks.

"The Saudi insurgent threatened to rape our mothers and sisters, destroy our houses and kill our fathers if we did not cooperate with him," one of them told reporters.

Yeah, of course you say that if you're a suicide bomber apprehended by the authorities. In Iraq, however, the story is consonant with the type of barbarity that turned al-Anbar against al Qaeda. The youths' story is plausible on its face.

How I wish MRAPs were mentioned by model and manufacturer in mentions like this one.

Despite a cease-fire by militia fighters loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a roadside bomb struck a U.S. mine-resistant armored vehicle on the southern edge of Sadr City, engulfing the MRAP in flames and smoke. The U.S. military said there were no casualties.

A tool of war trumped. Meh.

Addendum: Just ran across another version of the story. The MRAP involved was the Navistar MaxxPro, if this photo (and caption) is any indication.

clipped from ap.google.com

Another great story on MRAPs from USA Today

USA Today came through with another fine multimedia piece on MRAPs. One that I highlighted last summer focused on Force Protection's Cougar. In this one the photos and story stick with Navistar's MaxxPro.

The story includes a short series of photos chronicling the journey of an MRAP from manufacturer to front lines.

BAGHDAD — When the new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle rolled over a roadside bomb on Thanksgiving, the explosion shredded the right front tire, gouged the passenger door, destroyed the radiator and shattered the windshield's thick ballistic glass.

But Army Sgt. Peter Rosie, perched atop the vehicle in the gunner's turret, survived with only a minor concussion. No one else was hurt; Rosie returned to duty.

(USA Today)

Good story by Tom Vanden Brook. Go read the whole thing.

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MRAP Issue Iraq

Here's yet another fresh MRAP video from Iraq. It shows more footage of troops getting practice in Navistar's MaxxPro, and some footage of the BAE cat 2 MRAP going through its paces.

MaxxPro with hinges*

I finally stumbled again across the early MaxxPro image that had the hinge-looking things attached to the body of the vehicle. Most pics of the MaxxPro offer no hint at all of the feature.

clipped from www.defense-update.com

*"someone who knows" dropped by to say that the hinge-looking things are not hinges at all but simply the hardware that attaches the body to the chassis rails. Sounds good to me.

MaxxPro in Iraq: another video

That back door would probably be a drag if the hydraulic system went on the fritz.

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MRAP integration: Adding bells and whistles to the Cougar, MaxxPro and RG-33

Nifty video showing the outfitting facility that puts standard armed forces equipment on board the MRAPs delivered by the various manufacturers.

I spotted the Cougar, the MaxxPro, the RG-33 and the Buffalo. Sharper eyes may pick out stuff I missed.

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MaxxPro in Baghdad video

Just on a lark I decided to see if the recent news of MaxxPros showing up in Baghdad coincided with the release of a video.

Jackpot.

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Rear view of Navistar MaxxPro

Well, I found it interesting, since it's an angle I haven't seen before.

clipped from www.armyrecognition.com

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Breakdown of new MRAP order

As reported here, the armed services have ordered another 2,400 MRAPs, with Navistar International filling plurality of the order with 1,000 MaxxPro vehicles.

Navistar International Corp. on Thursday received a $509-million order for an additional 1,000 armored trucks for U.S. soldiers Iraq and Afghanistan. The latest order from the Marine Corps raised Navistar’s total orders for the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) trucks to 2,971 since May.
(Chicago Business)

Force Protection received an order for 800 vehicles. I almost reported the wrong number because of this story:

Force Protection Industries (FRPT) has been awarded a $376M contract for 553 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles according to the Department of Defense website
(tradingmarkets.com)

A closer read of the contract announcement revealed that Force Protection received orders for 800 vehicles of which 553 were Cat. I and the remainder were Cat II.

BAE Systems collected the 600 remaining vehicle orders, including 112 Cat. II "ambulance variant" models and 89 "special operations command variants."

Though I earlier reported these orders as an outcome of MRAP II evaluation, that very well may not be the case. The timing, at least, was coincidental.


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Early winners in MRAP II (Updated/corrected)

Pentagon officials have awarded three companies with contracts to build Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, a Defense Department official said on Thursday.

The firms are Navistar International, BAE Systems and Force Protection, chosen from a field of at least five vendors, industry sources said.

(Marine Times)

For those keeping track at home, these prompt orders reflect success fom the MaxxPro, RG-30-something and probably the Cougar from Force Protection.

It is worth noting that the lighter MRAP from Armor Holdings, the Caiman, did not compete for MRAP II, no doubt because of its purchase this past summer by BAE systems.

The early results suggest that Mr. Zippy's analysis (the Zipster may be connected directly to Force Protection, the maker of the Cougar) was essentially accurate.

Update:
The DOD Web site makes clear that the new round of orders represents an expansion on existing contracts. That places doubt on my conclusion that these recent orders are associated with the MRAP II program. It seems significant that Navistar will fill 1,000 of the 2,400 vehicle order.


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Navistar's MaxxPro MRAP: No V-shaped hull (Updated)

Navistar International has been understandably mum about the design of its MaxxPro MRAP.

The photos gave no indication of the V-shaped hull characteristic of most MRAPs. Evidently it wasn't just the company's ability to churn out product that led to the company's success in the MRAP I competition.

But one outsider has emerged as a Pentagon favorite. Navistar International Corp., which mostly builds trucks for civilian markets, came seemingly out of nowhere in May to win a 1,200-vehicle order for its 20-ton MaxxPro design. The Illinois-based company followed up with an order in July for another 700 trucks. Production contracts total around $1 billion. Navistar officials credit a novel design, excellent test results and the company's huge manufacturing capacity and worldwide logistics infrastructure.

"Our design is unique," says Bob Walsh, assistant general manager for military vehicles. "We have an armored body on a chassis. It does a good job of redirecting energy [from bomb blasts]." Its ease of repair is also a plus. "Being a cab-on-chassis, you're able to pull off the body and slide a new chassis in there."

(Aviation Week)

An early artist's conception of the vehicle offered a clue as to at least one of the strategies the company uses to re-direct energy. Note the hinges that appear periodically where the body rests on the chassis.

Well, fiddlesticks. I can't for the life of me re-locate that image. Should have saved it when I had the chance. Trust me, there were some hinge-like fittings that appeared to allow the body to lift off the chassis. The axis points were offset so that the body would move up and then forward, I believe (trying to remember the direction of the offset from memory).

Update:
(Dec. 4, 2007) I eventually located the photo and posted it. Resulting commentary indicated that the structures are not hinges at all, and even if the MaxxPro has some additional features that help redirect blast energy the basic design (by most accounts) seems to be a V-shaped hull regardless of the superficial appearance of the vehicle.