From Danger Room:
By Nathan Hodge | July 1, 2009 | 12:02 pm
The U.S. Marine Corps has made it official: Oshkosh Corporation will build a new blast-proof truck for service in Afghanistan. The company beat out several competitors to win a $1.06 billion contract to build the all-terrain trucks, which go by the cumbersome name Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected All Terrain Vehicle, or M-ATV for short. The initial order provides for 2,244 M-ATVs.
Roadside bombs remain a major threat in Afghanistan, but the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles first fielded in Iraq often proved too heavy for Afghanistan’s primitive roads and mountainous terrain. The military wanted a lighter, more nimble truck that would still provide serious protection for troops.
So what will this new vehicle look like? The company submitted a design that was built around the chassis of the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement, a seven-ton truck that has already seen service in Afghanistan. Last year, I traveled around parts of Afghanistan’s Helmand Province on Marine Corps MTVRs; the hulking trucks proved surprisingly capable of off-road driving.
Now the company has to deliver on the contract — and fast. According to a Department of Defense news release, Oshkosh is eventually expected to produce up to 1,000 vehicles a month; the first M-ATVs are supposed to be fielded by the end of this year. All told, the Pentagon may procure up to 5,244 M-ATVs, as funding becomes available.
[PHOTO: Oshkosh]
See Also:
- Sizing up the Contenders for the ‘MRAP Lite’
- Army May Place Massive Orders for Hulking Trucks
- Blimps, Bots, Beams Enlisted for IED Fight
- Military Dragged Feet on Bomb-Proof Vehicles (Updated Again …
- Pentagon Chief: Why I Tore Up the Army’s ‘Future’
- MRAP Hazards: Drowning, Electrocution, Cancer
- Army Wants Hummer, MRAP Hybrid
- MRAP v Superbombs (Updated)
- Marine Corps: MRAP Report Was ‘Personal’ (Updated)
- Marines Get Wise, Tone Down MRAP Order
- MRAP Report Sparks Investigation, Halts Whisteblower’s Work …
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