It has taken years to get under way but a half decade after invading Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps are finally beginning to equip thousands of new medium and heavy cargo trucks to carry 50-caliber machine guns and possibly heavier defensive weapons, in response to repeated attacks on road convoys.

When urban insurgents began firing on convoys of U.S. trucks rolling through Iraq and Afghanistan, troops began asking for heavier weapons. In 2003, an Army ordnance team in Iraq reported that soldiers were requesting 50-caliber machine guns.

The heaviest Army trucks may be armed with a vehicle-mounted version of the 7-ton Phalanx multi-barrel weapon that protects U.S. warships from incoming missiles. Developed to protect Navy ships, the Phalanx spits out up to 4500 rounds of 20-mm tungsten bullets per minute, shooting down missiles, rockets, as well as mortar and artillery rounds.

In 2005, the service began modifying some of its cargo trucks — 2.5-ton Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTVs) — to better protect their crews, adding armor and ring mounts. Since then, some 2500 FMTVs, about half of the total in Iraq, have received ring mounts. The guns, drawn from Army stocks, were rebuilt at Anniston Army Depot, Ala.

In 2007, as the Army prepared to replace its Vietnam-era, 2.5-ton M35 trucks, it decided that many of its new trucks should come equipped with guns and ring mounts. It specified that each FMTV in the next batch of 8400 vehicles would be built with a powered ring mount that could accommodate a manually operated 50-caliber gun or a remote-controlled turret such as the common remotely operated weapons station.

Adding a ring mount to a cargo truck may require a third crew member to fire the weapon and feed ammunition, Ring mounts add between 250 and 500 pounds to the vehicle and with the entire gunner's protection kit, it is 2000 pounds.

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