Corps spending millions to up-armor Cougars - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Corps spending millions to up-armor Cougars

Responding to the continued threat posed by armor-melting explosively formed penetrators, the Corps will add thousands of pounds of scalable bolt-on plates to some Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles.

Marine Corps Systems Command has purchased $30 million in new add-on armor kits from Force Protection Inc., the Ladson, S.C.,-based company announced Dec. 17. It will pay for kits to be used on 196 Cougar MRAPs, which the company manufactures, said Damon Walsh, a vice president at Force Protection.

“This is one step toward enabling commanders to dial the threat-protection level up or down to meet operational requirements,” Walsh said. “Ultimately, as [MRAPs] get smaller, the idea is that you could still use it on different platforms.”

The Corps asked for 3,600 MRAPs in 2006 to eventually replace Humvees in the fleet, but it cut the order to about 2,200 last year amid concerns about mobility and how many vehicles were needed. In November, the Defense Department began fielding the first wave of smaller MRAPs in Afghanistan.

The Corps bought kits for 192 six-wheel Category 2 Cougars and four, four-wheel Category 1 Cougars, Walsh said. He estimated the armor will add about 5,000 pounds to a Category 2 vehicle and 3,500 pounds to a Category 1 vehicle.

SysCom deferred comment to officials with the Pentagon’s Joint Program Office on MRAPs, who could not be reached.

U.S. forces have weighed options to mitigate EFP blasts since insurgents first began using them in Iraq in 2006. They are usually caused by a steel cylinder filled with explosives that turns a concave plate inside into a molten copper slug that can penetrate most armor.

The Force Protection kits have 11¾-inch thick plates that can be cut to fit any vehicle capable of carrying the weight, Walsh said. Officials declined to disclose what the plates are made from, but Walsh said it comprises “layers of metals and nonmetals” designed to slow the blast. Per square foot, it weighs about 102 pounds and costs about $2,000. It was blast-tested at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., in the fall, Walsh said.

While Defense Department studies have shown that MRAPs and up-armored Humvees are susceptible to rollovers, Walsh said that won’t be the case with the up-armored Cougar. Depending on where Marines choose to bolt the plates, they will lower the vehicle’s center of gravity, he said.

But a June 13 report by the Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned raised other concerns about the weight of MRAPs. In one example cited in that report, two soldiers drowned April 23 after a road in Iraq collapsed under the weight of the vehicle, causing it to roll over into a canal.

“Road shoulders in the Middle East do not meet U.S. standards and may collapse under the weight of the MRAP, especially when the road is above grade and can fall to lower ground [ditches and canals],” the report states.

A Category 2 Cougar has a curb weight of 19½ tons and can handle a payload of an additional 6½, Force Protection officials said. Walsh said even with bolt-on armor, crew and equipment aboard, the vehicle payload would still fall under 6½ tons.

The Corps’ deal with Force Protection follows an April contract between the Defense Department and Navistar International, worth $261 million, for more armor. Navistar provides most of the military’s smaller four-wheeled MRAPs.