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.

*****

The bottom of the (inverted) pyramid

I was updating myself on MRAP news today and ran across a USA-Today story on manufacturers' efforts to develop armor protections against Explosively Formed Penetrators, the type of IED most lethal to U.S. vehicles.

Most of story was no surprise, as it stayed line with the narrative that MRAPs are unprotected against EFPs. Near the bottom of the story, where the traditional print-media story form stuffs the less-interesting and least-critical detail, I discovered something I didn't know.

"We have a solution that is made up of standard and new materials in a configuration that will defeat a number of the EFP devices," said Jim Tuten, director of research development and armor programs at Protected Vehicles, which is based in North Charleston, S.C. "We have tested it against a number of them at several different government facilities successfully."

Force Protection, a major Pentagon MRAP contractor, has anti-EFP armor in a vehicle called the Mastiff, which it has sold the British military.

(USA Today)

One of my favorite blogs, the delightful across-the-pond EU Referendum, had criticized the Mastiff version of the Force Protection Cougar because it lacked windows with which soldiers could make themselves aware of their surroundings before disembarking at the rear of the vehicle. Apparently, the EFP protections designed by Force Protection resulted in the elimination of the windows.

Linking back to EU Referendum helped me stumble across a blog entry from 2006 that I had missed, on IEDs, EFPs, and military vehicles. Pay them a visit.

Second-generation MRAPs

To contrast with the MRAP-bashing story by David DeCamp that I finished critiquing in my previous post, I'll return to a USA Today story that I referenced earlier.

In this case, USA Today blows the door off of the St. Petersburg Times when it comes to properly informing its readership.

In Iraq, the IED threat continues to evolve. Insurgents increasingly use new devices that fire molten slugs, known as explosively formed projectiles, or EFPs, that can penetrate not only MRAPs but even heavily armored tanks.

When the Pentagon invited manufacturers this week to design a second generation of MRAPs, it specified that the new vehicles must offer more protection against EFPs. The challenge facing Force Protection and other MRAP makers is how quickly and effectively they can upgrade their vehicles to better repel the deadly devices.

Force Protection already has developed an add-on armor kit for the Cougar that it touts as being able to withstand EFP blasts. Aldrich says the kit also can be used on non-MRAP vehicles in the U.S. military fleet, and it's relatively light — an advantage in keeping vehicles maneuverable.

(USA Today)

DeCamp offered nothing about the Golan vehicle with its EFP protections and advanced armor, and nothing about the add-on armor developed by Force Protection.