MRAP vehicle for Marines

Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles are a family of armored fighting vehicles designed to survive IED attacks and ambushes. IEDs cause the majority (63%) of US deaths in Iraq.There is no common MRAP vehicle design; there are several vendors, each with a competing entry.Brig. General Michael Brogan of the United States Marine Corps is in charge of the MRAP program, for which the Marines are the lead service. The Marine Corps had planned to replace all HMMWVs in combat zones with MRAP vehicles, although this appears to have changed.As armored vehicles are considered an "urgent need" in Iraq and Afghanistan, this program is primarily funded under an "emergency war budget".

On 8 May 2007, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated that the acquisition of MRAPs are the Department of Defense highest priority, so for fiscal year 2007 US $ 1.1 billion is earmarked for MRAP .Gates decided to ramp up MRAP orders after the Marines reported in 2004 that no troops had died in more than 300 IED attacks on Cougars As of May 6, 2008 eight soldiers had been reported killed in the thousands of MRAPs in Iraq, according to news service Knight Ridder.

MRAP vehicles usually have "V" shaped hulls to deflect away any explosive forces originating below the vehicle, thereby protecting the vehicle and its passenger compartment. Typically these explosions are from land mines, but they can also be IED.



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A few versions are big and heavy and suck down a lot of fuel, but it beats getting blown to bits in a Humvee.

Here are the results (slideshow) of a heavy bomb blast hitting an MRAP in the war zone. The crew survived.