Army's new all-terrain vehicle debuts in Afghanistan

[unhappycamper]

The MATV vehicle (left) will gradually take over for the MRAP vehicle (right), which has proven ill suited for the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan.


Army's new all-terrain vehicle debuts in Afghanistan
By Thomas Day | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Wednesday, December 23, 2009

BAGRAM, Afghanistan — The U.S. military's new all-terrain vehicle doesn't look all that different from its lumbering predecessor. It's painted desert sand, and reaching the cabin still means climbing a couple of steps.

On Afghanistan's rough dirt roads, however, the new $500,000 to $1 million Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All Terrain Vehicle is a major improvement over the massive Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle it's replacing, soldiers say. The M-ATV is tailored to Afghanistan, at least parts of it, and the Pentagon is sending about 5,000 of them to the battlefield.

For soldiers who'd grown accustomed to bruising trips through rural Afghanistan, their first M-ATVs, which have just been introduced in the field, were an early Christmas present. Seemingly without effort, the vehicles climb mountains at angles that approach 45 degrees, and they glide across the country's rocky roads.

In the cities, the M-ATV's lighter frame can make sharp turns and maneuver through Afghanistan's lawless traffic much better than the hulking MRAP can.

Introduced in 2007, the MRAP was the Army's answer to the Iraqi insurgency's deadliest weapon, the improvised explosive device. What worked in Iraq hasn't worked as well in Afghanistan, however.


Rest of article at: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/81213.html



unhappycamper comment: Sweet. It might cost less than the one million dollar MRAP. Are we going to need to fly these things to Afghanistan also?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. as we build better and better targets.

A cool million per?

The P-51 fighter used in WWII only cost $40,000 per. (ignoring inflation, of course), and it had far better range.