The Pentagon's goal to ship thousands of Mine Resistant Ambush Protective vehicles (MRAPs) to Iraq may lower performance and raise costs, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report issued on July 15.

The MRAP program was begun in early 2007 to counter enemy homemade bombs responsible for roughly 75 percent of the casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. The $22-billion effort was designed to purchase and field up to 15,000 MRAPs as quickly as possible.

Since then, more than 6600 MRAP vehicles have been shipped. However, the GAO says the effort has also increased performance, sustainability and cost risks.

The reason is that safety and performance testing is not yet complete, and any shortcomings that may be disclosed may require design changes or post-manufacturing fixes. The three phases of developmental tests, which began in March 2007, are not scheduled to be completed until next month.

Awarding contracts to five different companies — Navistar Defense, Force Protection Industries, BAE Tactical Vehicle Systems, BAE Ground Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada Corporation — will likely result in future challenges as well, the GAO maintains.

Operating, maintaining, and sustaining a fleet of more than 15,000 fielded vehicles manufactured by at least five different vendors could also present significant challenges — especially for the Army, whose fleet will include more than 10,000 vehicles from five manufacturers. Future budgets could be significantly affected by these challenges, particularly since the department is still determining its cost estimate to operate and sustain the current MRAP quantities.

The GAO also pointed out that the future of MRAP may be short-lived, which could make things worse. For as threats change, performance requirements — and the MRAPs' role in DOD's overall tactical wheeled vehicle strategy — may change, further exacerbating these challenges.

RSS    Save to Del.icio.us  Digg This