UK Buys More MRAP Vehicles
Filed under: Contract Awards, England, Navistar, logistics, production program
Navistar was awarded a contract by the Ministry of Defence to build MRAP vehicles. See the Chicago Tribune for the report. Like the US military the UK has put increasing amounts of funding into their MRAP fleet. The major threat in Iraq and Afghanistan remains IED and mines and the MRAP is designed to minimize the damage from these attacks. Even though Iraq may be winding down there is still a requirement for vehicles to support operations in Afghanistan.
Marines buy MRAPs
According to this article the US Navy awarded five separate contracts to Navistar International. These contracts will be used to buy MRAP vehicles for the USMC. The MRAP market has increased dramatically in the last three years with BAE, Navistar and Force Protection being the main suppliers. The US military invested heavily in these vehicles to defeat the threat from IED in Iraq which had become the prime threat to their troops. Unfortunately the future combat forces of the Army and USMC will rely on other vehicles, perhaps the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) or the humble HUMVEE which will leave the US with a large inventory of MRAP vehicles not suited to other tactical missions.
National Defense Magazine reports USMC souring on the MRAP
The MRAP, as previously discussed, was a knee-jerk reaction by Congress to the IED threat. Now the Marines are realizing that they really have no use for the out sized tactical vehicle in their normal operations. See this note here about how it is not meeting the needs of the USMC and the Army.
SPSA LLC wins USMC contract for EOD kits
Filed under: SPSA, U.S. Marine Corps, logistics, production program
SPSA LLC of Harrisonburg, PA won a contract from the USMC to build Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) kits. These will primarily be used to destroy Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) and left over ordnance in Iraq and Afghanistan. The IED remains the primary threat to US and Coalition troops in Iraq, so EOD is a major part of the mission. More details may be found here.





