Smaller, lighter MRAPs headed to Afghanistan

Smaller, lighter MRAPs headed to Afghanistan (NSI News Source Info) Thursday October 23, 2008: The Pentagon is speeding deliveries to Afghanistan of armored vehicles designed to protect troops against roadside bomb attacks — smaller, lighter versions of what are known as MRAPs.

Smaller, lighter MRAPs

The MRAPs — the acronym stands for mine-resistant, ambush-protected — are being sent as U.S. forces report an increase in the number of roadside bombs being used by insurgents against coalition forces in Afghanistan. “There is a desire on the part of commanders there to get more MRAPs into theater,” said Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell at a Pentagon news conference. Morrell did not know how many more will be delivered, and the U.S. Transportation Command declined to discuss the numbers involved. But Morrell noted that an additional 822 new, lighter MRAPs being built by Navistar Defense will be fielded beginning in November. Commanders say Afghanistan’s rugged terrain demands off-road mobility, which presents a challenge for the older, heavier MRAP models. There are now 1,122 MRAPs deployed in Afghanistan, Morrell said. He said he knew of no plans to transfer to Afghanistan any of the 9,341 MRAPs now in Iraq, where U.S. forces are slowing drawing down in size. But officials are looking at whether any MRAPs that have been offloaded in Kuwait awaiting delivery to Iraq can be diverted to Afghanistan, he said. Since Afghanistan is landlocked and no “appropriately secure” route exists for overland delivery of the large vehicles, MRAPs must be airlifted into the country, said Army Lt. Col. Frederick Rice of TransCom. Some will be flown directly from the U.S., but others will be transported forward by ship and then transferred to cargo aircraft for delivery to Afghanistan, he said. The Pentagon still plans to acquire a total of 15,800 MRAPs, Morrell said. So far, about 10,500 have been transported to the U.S. Central Command area of operations, according to Rice.