At least three of the original ten competitors for the Pentagon’s Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected truck program have been disqualified (Oshkosh/Protected Vehicles’ Alpha and Textron’s M-1117) or turned out to be rumors (Oshkosh’s Bushmaster), while a new vehicle has just entered the fray: the 14-ton Caiman from BAE/Armor Holdings, 1,200 ordered last month.
In recent weeks orders have climbed to 6,500 and the average price per truck, including logistics support, has grown to more than $1 million. The military wants as many as 22,000 MRAPs over the next four years, making production capacity as important a factor as blast protection for the competing firms. Force Protection’s Cougar and Buffalo are still the most popular designs and the company is steadily expanding its factory space. BAE/Armor Holding’s RG-33 is a shoe-in for future orders owing to the design’s long combat track record and the firm’s massive capacity. After several tense months, General Dynamics Land Systems recently got tapped for its first big MRAP order: 500 RG-31s. But the biggest winner? Navistar/International Trucks with its MaxxPro design. The civilian truck-maker has combined sprawling factory acreage with an excellent design to become an MRAP favorite: 2,000 orders so far – same as Force Protection. Rafael/Protected Vehicles’ Golan remains an enigma, with only a handful of orders so far, but no indication yet that it’ll be disqualified.
Click on the thumbs for bigger views. (Sorry … some of these pics really suck, but they’re the best I could find for now.)
While we’re on the subject, two years ago I went on patrol with an Army EOD engineer unit that rode in RG-31s and Buffaloes and shot this piece for C-SPAN:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/fMOl0WGQqtE" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/2eaN6_PPfss" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Related:
How to build a bazillion MRAPs
MRAP losers keep mum
Force Protection ramps up
Afghans get MRAPs, too
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