Armored Humvees Are NOT the Answer
Gary Ater
February 28, 2007
The Right Vehicles:
With President Bush's current plan to go against his general's advice, the public's desire and most members of both houses of Congress, for sending thousands of more troops to Iraq, they should at least not be going without the appropriate armored vehicles. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Those soldiers that have been given the short straw and are headed back into Iraq will still be using armored vehicles that cannot withstand the bomb blasts that have killed or wounded hundreds of US troops.
The vehicles such as the M1117, the Buffalo Truck and the Cougar Armored Security Vehicle have a proven ability to save lives from the blasts. These vehicles are known in the military as the "MRAP", which stands for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles. Unfortunately, they were not put into full production until late in the war (the war that was supposed to only last "3-6 months") and their production levels are small when compared to the latest demand. With the already enormous cost of this war, it's hard to believe that the reason for this vehicle shortage is a shortage of available money for their purchase. I guess it's OK to send soldiers, but not to send them with the proper tools. Back in WW II, the concept was to spend the money for whatever arms & military equipment was needed, before you spend the troops. But without even considering the obvious harm that is done to the American families for the loss of a son, daughter, husband or wife, pragmatically it still takes 20 years to replace just one US soldier. They seemed to have forgotten that concept.
Why Not Use Armored Humvees?:
As the insurgents have continued to improve the effectiveness of the IED (Improvised Explosive Device) and now the more deadly EFP's (Explosive Formed Penetrators), the standard Humvees are virtually useless. One of the reasons is that both the Humvee and the M1114 (the armored version of the Humvee) personnel carriers can barely handle the extra armor that they have had to add and they are also flat-bottomed vehicles. The war in Iraq has basically made the Humvee obsolete. The newer MRAP vehicles have armored "V" shaped bottoms that can deflect a blast. This will leave a passenger shaken, but still alive.
(It should be noted that the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has stated that the IED / EFP problem has caused about 1/2 of the US causalities. Per the GAO, this came about because there were not enough US troops in Iraq after the 2003 invasion to secure the vast amounts of anti-personnel - anti-tank mines, artillery shells and other ammunition left in the unguarded Iraqi arsenals.)
The military has said that they need 4,060 of the MRAP vehicles; 2,500 for the Army; 538 for the Navy and 1,022 for the Marines. The delivery schedule continues to vary. The permanent replacement for the Humvee is also still years away. For another situation, in the late 1990's, the Army had cancelled a large order for the V-hulled M1117's. In June 2004, they changed their minds and said they now need 2,600 units.
Textron Inc. in New Orleans is building 48 of the M1117's per month, but their order is only for 1,250 units. According to Textron officials, they were told that "there was only enough money for these 1,250 units".
Currently in Iraq:
About half of the Marine's combat vehicles in Iraq are the now obsolete Humvees. The Humvees are associated with 60% of their combat deaths and 65% of their combat wounded. The attacks on the V-bottomed armored vehicles have resulted in only 2.1% of combat deaths and 3.5% of their combat wounded.
The Future:
The reality is that the MRAP is the initial military vehicle for the future just as "wars with insurgents" are expected to be the majority of the wars of the future. Humvees were designed years ago for conventional combat and as an upgrade to the old military jeep. To put it in context, a rider in an MRAP vehicle, hit by an IED, is 4-5 times more apt to survive than a rider in an M1114.
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