Rise in attacks prompts new MRAP plans

[unhappycamper]

Asking for more MRAPs
Jump in EFP attacks prompts decision.


Rise in attacks prompts new MRAP plans
By Kris Osborn - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 7, 2008 5:46:44 EDT

The number of Iraqi roadside bomb attacks with a particularly deadly kind of explosive spiked in January and March, prompting renewed Army plans to buy heavily protected Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles.

After a spate of attacks in January using explosively formed penetrators, Army generals in Iraq sent a report in mid-February asking for more MRAPs to Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, commanding general of III Corps, who signed the report and forwarded it to Army headquarters in Washington.

The report led the Joint Requirements Oversight Council on Feb. 22 to raise the ceiling for Army purchases of MRAPs by 2,000 to 12,000, said Lt. Col. Martin Downie, an Army spokesman. The Army still wants ultimately to buy 17,770 of the vehicles, Downie said.

In March, the number of EFP attacks was up again, said Christine Devries, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon’s Joint IED Defeat Organization.

Overall, roadside bomb attacks in Iraq are down from last year, but attacks with EFPs matched 2007 levels in January and March, Devries said. She would not give exact numbers.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/army_mraps_040708w/



uhc comment: You might want to take a closer look at the picture. Yup, that's an airplane. Guess how we send these bad boys to Iraq?

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