by Frank James
At the bottom of Capitol Hill yesterday, outside the giant glass greenhouse of the U.S. Botanic Garden building, was a ponderous, armor plated truck-sized tan vehicle that drew stares from tourists and other passersby yesterday.
It was a mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle, or MRAP, of the type the Pentagon is ordering by the thousands as part of a crash program to protect U.S. troops from the dreaded improvised explosive devices or IEDs. Those IEDs have taken a heavy toll on U.S. service members, even those riding around now in up-armored Humvees.
The one on display on the Hill was the MaxxPro, as in maximum protection, made by International, a unit of Illinois-based Navistar International Corp. It was an eight seater which weighted in 30,000 pounds. (The ten-seater is 5,000 pounds heavier.)
Photos by Frank JamesSeveral companies have Defense Department contracts to provide the vehicles though International is the one that’s farthest along, according to its officials. International has a contract to deliver 1,871 through Feb. 2008.
Members of Congress, their staffs and journalists were invited by its manufacturer to inspect the vehicle up close, to climb into the cab or into the rear, to kick the massive, reinforced tires, so to speak.
Asked what the most frequently heard questions from lawmakers were, Archie Massicotte, president of International Military and Government LLC, said ” ‘Why didn’t you do it sooner? How can we help and what can we do make sure we get these things manufactured and into the troops hands as quick as possible.’ “
Archie Massicotte, president, International Military and Government, with MaxxPro
When asked how he answered the first question, about why it took so long, Massicotte said:
“I can only manage what I’m given to manage. I can’t manage what they do up here. I can’t manage what they do in the Defense Department. When a requirement comes through industry learns about it, we react. How this is percolating through the systems here, you have to draw your own conclusion. I can’t be cynical. It’s been a good thing for us and we just have a lot of good relationships right now with people helping us and making sure we do the right things.”
USA Today has reported that the Pentagon didn’t move as quickly as soldiers in the field would’ve liked in finding a replacement for the vulnerable Humvees. The Pentagon has denied that accusation. But Massicotte was clearly suggesting there was no reason why his company couldn’t have made the new vehicle years ago.
Luis Torres, International’s development manager for military products, asked photographers to observe certain ground rules, like not taking pictures of the edge of the vehicle’s door, or the vehicle’s interior, so as not to give away to insurgents some of the measures used to protect the vehicle and its occupants.
It was all right to take pictures of certain external features, like the fire suppression system in the wheel well to put out blazes there. It’s one of several such systems on the vehicle.
The wheel-well fire-suppression system
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The MaxxPro is descended from vehicles first built by South Africa’s former Afrikaner regime, when it was fighting the African National Congress which would use mines and other explosives against that oppressive government.
The vehicle has a V shaped bottom which like the hull of a boat allows it to ride out the shock waves of an explosion better than more conventional vehicles.
But Torres said the vehicle also had additional features which he couldn’t get into for security reasons.
Luis Torres of International Military and Government explains trucks features.
A few of us who had the chance to check out the MRAP on the inside and out agreed that it was an impressive vehicle. And our thoughts ran to the men and women who would be sitting inside similar vehicles in Iraq, our hopes being the MRAPs do their job.