EFV has MRAP-level protection, Conway says - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

EFV has MRAP-level protection, Conway says

The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle has cleared an important obstacle, proving in tests that it can sustain the blast of an improvised explosive device as well as a mine-resistant vehicle, Marine officials said.

Commandant Gen. James Conway told the House Armed Services Committee last week that he was “very pleasantly surprised” with how the EFV fared in the testing, conducted at Aberdeen Test Center, Md., in late January and February. The EFV performed “about the same” as a mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle when faced with explosions under its belly and tracks, but better against direct fire and indirect fire, he said.

The step is significant. Critics, including some in Congress, have questioned the wisdom of fielding the EVF in an era in which many combat vehicles are designed with a V-shaped hull that deflects IED blasts. In order to reach speeds of up to 40mph on water, the EFV was designed with a flat bottom.

The tests showed the EFV is as resistant to IED blasts as a Category-2 MRAP, Conway said. Cat-2 MRAPs stand up better to blasts than the more-common Cat-1 MRAP, and are sometimes used at the front of convoys and in explosive ordnance disposal — scenarios in which the possibility of an IED blast is increased.

The testing consisted of subjecting a single EFV prototype to four blasts, including two that simulated IEDs, said Manny Pacheco, a spokesman for the EFV program. The vehicle suffered damage after each shot, but was functional after minor repairs.

“Bottom line: If we’re being evaluated as an MRAP, we would have passed,” Pacheco said.

Conway said the testing was conducted without the EFV being outfitted with an additional armor kit, which Marine officials say is an option for the battlefield. The Corps “would want to incorporate” the kits if Marines were in an “IED-rich” environment, he said.

The Corps expects to receive seven new EFV prototypes this year, but initial low-rate production of the vehicles was delayed by the Pentagon an additional year recently to 2015. Conway told Congress that the Corps still has some “knowledge points” it needs to establish before the vehicle is cleared for full-rate production. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Defense Secretary Robert Gates “wanted us to have some of the answers to those issues before we got into a full rate of buy-in procurement,” Conway said.