Off-road MRAPs a hot topic in Congress

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The Oshkosh MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle is one of several models currently being tested by Defense Department officials as part of a new effort to get lighter, faster armored vehicles to combat troops.


Off-road MRAPs a hot topic in Congress
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, March 13, 2009

WASHINGTON — By the end of the year, troops should be driving a new vehicle while on patrols in Afghanistan. But whether they’re still driving it two years from now remains to be seen.

Defense contractors last week submitted their first prototypes of the new MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle, designed to be as safe but lighter and more agile than the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected trucks which dramatically reduced casualties from roadside bombs in Iraq.

Army and Marine Corps officials detailed those plans during a Thursday hearing before the House Appropriations Committee.

Pentagon planners put out a request for the new vehicles last fall and hope to field the armored vehicle by the end of 2009.

Lawmakers offered support for the plans, but questioned whether the vehicles will come too late, after the heaviest fighting of the year.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61297