Corps’ MRAP cuts won’t affect Navy

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Still committed
The Navy is purchasing 544 MRAPs


Corps’ MRAP cuts won’t affect Navy
By Kimberly Johnson - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Dec 9, 2007 9:28:28 EST

A decision by the Marine Corps’ top general to reduce the service’s order of bombproof vehicles by around 1,400 trucks will not impact the Navy’s order of 544 vehicles, according to the sea service.

The Navy remains committed to purchasing 544 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, known as MRAPs. The bulk of the Navy’s order, 309 trucks, will go to the Naval Construction Force, said Lt. Cmdr. John Schofield, a spokesman for the Navy acquisition chief, on Dec. 3. Another 75 vehicles will go to Navy explosive ordnance disposal units, while other Navy components such as riverines, Expeditionary Warfare Training Group, Maritime Expeditionary Security Force and the Expeditionary Combat Readiness Center will receive a few trucks each.

The Corps originally planned to buy as many as 3,700 of the vehicles, but Commandant Gen. James Conway approved a reduction in the Corps’ requirement to 2,300, which was presented Nov. 29 to the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, an advisory group to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“This reduction results from a thorough assessment that shows fewer MRAP vehicles are necessary to meet the Corps’ needs in Iraq and elsewhere,” said Maj. Jay Delarosa, a Marine Corps spokesman.

The decision is a sharp about-face for the service, which once envisioned every Marine in Iraq traveling outside the wire in the vehicles, and comes as Conway openly complains that the MRAPs are weighing the Corps down.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/12/navy_mraps_071209w/