quoted as telling top
Pentagon officials that “the MRAP should be considered the highest priority
Department of Defense acquisition program” as being ‘the father of the MRAP’, in
truth it’s origins are more likely to be found in a 2004 Kuwaiti ‘morale-lifting
town hall discussion” with Iraq-bound troops held by then Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Rumsfeld was confronted by angry GIs asking why they weren’t being given the equipment they needed to protect themselves and had to listen to stories about improvised armour being scavenged from waste dumps to be fitted on to Humvees. It can be argued that it was this public airing of the reliance on “hillbilly armour” that was the catalyst for the MRAP program.
Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles are armored fighting vehicles designed to
surviving improvised explosive device (IED) attacks and ambushes. Ironically,
contemporary designs were first initiated during the Rhodesian Bush War, that
technology was subsequently inherited and developed by the South African Defence Force. Fortunately South
Africa had lost its ‘pariah’ status by the
time western nations needed the technology and it was probably not thought
useful to contemplate the circumstances of its origin.
A rush program created a huge
number of MRAPs separated into different categories according to weight and
size. Category I MRAPs, the most common size are classified as Mine-Resistant
Utility Vehicle (MRUV), a smaller and lighter vehicle, designed for urban
operations. Category II MRAPs or Joint Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Rapid
Response Vehicle (JERRV) are designed for missions including convoy lead, troop
transport, ambulance, explosive ordnance disposal and combat engineering. The category
III models have a dedicated mine
and IED clearing function and typically carry up to six personnel.
At least five versions of the
MRAP were produced, weighing from 13–28 tons, with the last being the M-ATV
(Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All Terrain Vehicle) for use on rougher roads
in Afghanistan.
All the models featured the V-shaped under body to disperse bomb blasts.
The cost for individual
production models of the MRAP ranged from $535,000 to $600,000, but field
models including spare parts and upgrades came to an average of $1.29 million
according to the Pentagon.
In the end a total of 27,740
MRAPs rolled off the assembly lines of seven manufacturers, including BAE Systems, Oshkosh Defense and Navistar, and About
1,570 have been sold to foreign militaries and allies.
During the course of the Afghanistan conflict Canada bought a number of mine
resistant vehicles. Most numerous among them were 75 RG-31 Mk3s equipped with the Protector M151 Remote Weapon
Station. Another 67 mine resistant vehicles were procured under the Expedient Route-Opening Capability program.
Interestingly, it was stated that the RG-31s were to be replaced in Canadian
service by Textron Systems TAPV.
The $47.7 billion era of the MRAP came to a close in 2012 at a
retirement ceremony at the Pentagon for the production line of vehicles that
were rushed into service in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
Currently the US Army plans
to modernize and retain 8,585 of its mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles,
while divesting itself of another 7,456 MRAPs it no longer wants. 5,036 of the 8,585 MRAPs the Army plans to
keep will be stored in prepositioned stocks all over the world, with another
1,073 assigned for training activities. The remainder will be spread among the
active force.
Not all militaries are moving
so quickly to divest themselves of this capability. The British Army is moving to harden its otherwise light
infantry, finding good uses for the almost 2,000 armored vehicles procured specifically
for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
There is also a place for the
continuing use of the MRAP in the Canadian Armed Forces. A vehicle optimized to
protect soldiers against the three classes of weapons used by insurgents: the assault
rifle, the shoulder-fired rocket and the improvised explosive device, roadside
or emplaced as mines, will always have its uses.
The surviving RG-31 Mk3s already in
service could provide an important starting place for this program. Their ranks
could be augmented with units acquired from US surplus stocks, They would not
be cheap, the US Army estimates
it will spend about $150,000 to reset each vehicle at the Red River Army Depot
in Texas, or about $87,000 per vehicle if the work is done at Livorno, Italy,
but they could still cost far less then new vehicles with similar capabilities.
As well as having military
value there are benefits for Canadian industry to be found if the work of
‘resetting’ used MRAPs if the work is done in Canada. Just as international
M113 overhaul, repair and upgrade programs have been an important market for
several Canadian firms, getting a footing in this important future market could
be important for Canada’s
defence industry
James Hasik
has argued that the real future for the MRAP market lies in upgrading existing
vehicles. "Inside the U.S.,
the future of the MRAP market is upgrade programs and overhaul because they
have some pretty darn good vehicles. It's hard to make the case for new
vehicles when you have 20,000 in storage," said Hasik
The best place to retain this
vehicle and its capabilities is in the Army reserves. They could take the place
of the long departed AVGP as a training vehicle, as well as
providing an important and necessary focus for reserve formations. Costs
associated with maintenance and operations would be lower then those found in
regular formations, adding yet another benefit to the advantages accrued in
keeping these formidable vehicles available for future use.
The MRAP: Brilliant Buy, or
Billions Wasted?
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/09/international/middleeast/09rumsfeld.html?_r=0
MRAP
RG-31 Nyala Mine Protected Vehicle
Canadian Forces Armour —
Expedient Route-Opening Capability
Tactical Armoured Patrol
Vehicle
Pentagon shuts MRAP production
line
Majority of US MRAPs To Be
Scrapped or Stored
Between MRAPs and "a
couple of Nobel Prizes"—reasonable priorities in armored vehicles in the US and the UK
http://www.jameshasik.com/weblog/2014/01/between-mraps-and-a-couple-of-nobel-prizesreasonable-priorities-in-armored-vehicles-in-the-us-and-the-uk.html
Re-Life / Re-Role
http://www.dewengineering.com/products.htm
Middle
East MRAP Sales Give Hope to
Truck Manufacturers
AVGP – ARMOUR FOR THE RESERVES
