thedrifter
03-08-07, 06:48 AM
Wisconsintruck saves Marines
March 8, 2007
BY DINESH RAMDE
OSHKOSH, Wis. -- A new combat truck with a V-shaped bottom designed to withstand blasts from roadside bombs is performing with such success in Iraq that the U.S. military is pressing a Wisconsin company and others to churn out hundreds more in the coming months.
About 200 prototypes of the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles have been deployed in Iraq since 2004, said Capt. Jeff Landis, spokesman for the Marine Corps Systems Command.
No Marine has died while in one of the trucks, Landis said.
V-shape deflects bombs
''This is the best vehicle available for safety and survivability,'' he said. ''The MRAP vehicle supplies troops with the greatest protection we've had.''
The key is the truck's V-shaped steel body, which flares like the hull of a boat, said Joaquin Salas, spokesman for Oshkosh Truck Corp.
''The shape channels the full force of a blast up the sides of the vehicle rather than through the floor,'' Salas said.
''It's all physics. Vehicles with that shape are extremely effective.''
Roadside bombs account for 70 percent of U.S. deaths and injuries in Iraq.
AP
Ellie
March 8, 2007
BY DINESH RAMDE
OSHKOSH, Wis. -- A new combat truck with a V-shaped bottom designed to withstand blasts from roadside bombs is performing with such success in Iraq that the U.S. military is pressing a Wisconsin company and others to churn out hundreds more in the coming months.
About 200 prototypes of the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles have been deployed in Iraq since 2004, said Capt. Jeff Landis, spokesman for the Marine Corps Systems Command.
No Marine has died while in one of the trucks, Landis said.
V-shape deflects bombs
''This is the best vehicle available for safety and survivability,'' he said. ''The MRAP vehicle supplies troops with the greatest protection we've had.''
The key is the truck's V-shaped steel body, which flares like the hull of a boat, said Joaquin Salas, spokesman for Oshkosh Truck Corp.
''The shape channels the full force of a blast up the sides of the vehicle rather than through the floor,'' Salas said.
''It's all physics. Vehicles with that shape are extremely effective.''
Roadside bombs account for 70 percent of U.S. deaths and injuries in Iraq.
AP
Ellie