MRAP Watch

The new off-road version of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle designed for Afghanistan has not been developed yet, but the Marines are already gung ho about their effort to develop an alternative.

“There is an effort by the Department of Defense, a very right and helpful effort, to come up with an Afghanistan version of the MRAP,” Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway said yesterday at the National Press Club. “The fact is, we’re not waiting for that.”

Instead of awaiting the MRAP-All Terrain Vehicle (MRAP-ATV), the Marines are putting an MRAP on the suspension of the 7-ton truck known as the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR). It's a familiar theme from Conway's recent speeches. Here's the general in his own words from yesterday:

We’ve tested the vehicle. It’s tested very well in initial tests. Even as we sit here today, it’s being further tested before we send it to theater. But we’re very optimistic it’s going to work. It’s going to give our Marines the off-road kind of mobility, and, more importantly, the protection they need in a 38,000-pound vehicle. We’re going to get it there faster than waiting for the development of the MRAP series, designated for Afghan use. And we’re going to do it at a fraction of the price. So we’re charging ahead on that program with great expectations. And our Marines are going to be making great use of the vehicle in what we consider to be the very near future.

Conway made similar comments on June 2, as Inside the Navy reported. “We will probably still need some M-ATVs because not every column is going to be strictly MRAPs,” he noted that day. “Where there’s a need for an up-armored Humvee, we may want to have an M-ATV in its place when they come about. But that is on down range from where we are right now.”

And on May 15, we reported Conway said his service was not "divorcing" from the M-ATV program but would decide where to “park” its money as both the M-ATV and the service’s alternative option develop.