MRAP Deliveries Top Year-End Goal

By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service

Dec. 21, 2007 - The Defense Department today topped its year-end goal of delivering 1,500 mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles to troops in the Afghanistan and Iraq combat theaters, a Pentagon official said. A ship with 180 MRAP vehicles aboard landed pierside in Kuwait yesterday, the official said. More than 1,500 of the vehicles are now in theater. The numbers continue to increase daily, with air and sealifts of MRAPs into theater, the official said.

"We continue to deliver and field as many as can be manufactured on a daily basis," said Cheryl Irwin, a Defense Department spokeswoman.

DoD this week awarded $2.66 billion to purchase an additional 3,126 of the heavily armored, V-hulled vehicles by July 31.

The latest MRAP contract, announced Dec. 18, brought to 11,900 the number of vehicles under contract. The department's objective is to build at least 15,374, officials said.

"These armored trucks ... have been the military's top acquisition priority for months now, and with good reason," Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said. "They have proven to be true lifesavers for our warfighters in Iraq and Afghanistan."