Pentagon wants more MRAPs for troops in Iraq

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon said Thursday it needs more than 15,000 mine resistant armored vehicles for its troops in Iraq and elsewhere, doubling its previous requirement.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will seek funding for the vehicles next week when he goes to Congress to request additional war funding, said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.

“And if events on the ground change such that we need fewer of them, we can always off-ramp this and end up buying fewer,” he said. “But we want to make sure we have enough to meet the needs of the force, to best protect them.”

The Bush administration has come under fire repeatedly over the course of the war in Iraq for moving too slowly to provide troops with life-saving equipment from body armor to armored vehicles.

But Gates has made fielding of MRAPs a priority since learning that no U.S. troop has died in one as a result of a roadside explosion.

The Pentagon hopes to have 1,500 of the vehicles in Iraq by the end of the year.

Unlike the armored Humvee, which is vulnerable to explosions underneath the vehicle, MRAPs have a V-shaped hull that deflects the blast of a roadside bomb outwards.

A Pentagon council that reviews military requirements has concluded that the services need 15,724 of the vehicles, up from 7,774, Morrell said.
The Army alone needs 10,000 MRAPs, he said.