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"Weldon, Reid and other members of Congress have said they would approve any request for funding. "
U.S. Army to Spend Another $1.5 Bln on Armor, Troop Protection
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Army plans to spend $1.5 billion to protect troops in Iraq by installing armor on truck cabs and fuel tankers and buying new armored security vehicles and technology to jam remote-controlled bombs.
The Army will spend $579 million on adding armor to the cabs of 5,387 trucks, heavy equipment transports and fuel tankers. The purchases also include equipment produced by Northrop Grumman Corp., Textron Inc. and General Dynamics Corp. intended to improve the defenses of soldiers and vehicles, including helicopters.
The Army received congressional approval yesterday to shift funds from other areas such as research and missile procurement. The Pentagon is increasingly focused on protecting troops and supply lines from Iraqi insurgents using improvised bombs, small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. Such attacks are responsible for more than half of U.S. casualties, members of Congress said.
The insurgents ``have had a growing understanding that where they can affect us is in the logistics flow,'' said Air Force Lt. Gen. Lance Smith, deputy chief of the U.S. Central Command, at a press conference today.
Members of Congress such as Representative Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican who is vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also have criticized U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in the past week over the level of protection for troops.
`Hillbilly Armor'
On Dec. 8, a soldier in Kuwait told Rumsfeld at a ``town meeting'' event that troops were rummaging through landfills for steel plates to add ``hillbilly armor'' to their Humvee military vehicles. As of today, 1,298 U.S. troops have been killed and 9,844 have been wounded, according to the Pentagon.
Weldon, Reid and other members of Congress have said they would approve any request for funding.
The Congressional approval ``was critical, absolutely critical because if we didn't get it we couldn't do what we needed to do to protect soldiers,'' Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson said in an interview after an Army briefing today on truck armor plans. ``We are focused on the units that are currently there.''
The additional funding will bring to about $4.1 billion the amount the Army plans to spend on vehicle armor protection through next year since October 2002, said Sorenson, deputy for acquisition and system management.
Current funding will allow 98 percent of all Humvees in Iraq to have some form of armor by March, up from 80 percent currently, Sorenson said. With additional funding planned, the total number of armored vehicles in Iraq, including Humvees, medium and heavy trucks, would rise to 38,000 from 29,000, he said.
Helicopter Protection
The second-largest expenditure category is $279 million for helicopter protection equipment designed to detect and divert shoulder-fired, heat-seeking missiles. The Common Missile Warning Systems are produced by Northrop and BAE Systems North America.
Another $224 million will be spent on truck-mounted laptop computers and software that track the locations of convoys. The Movement Tracking System made by Comtech Mobile Data Communications of Germantown, Maryland, is already used in Iraq and Kuwait.
The Army also wants to spend an additional $167 million to buy 212 Textron Armored Security Vehicle, an all-wheel drive vehicle that can stop .50-caliber bullets and landmines.
Bradley Armor
Another $114.9 million will be spent on specialized armor tiles for Bradley Fighting Vehicles, designed to dissipate the explosive impact of rocket-propelled grenades. The tiles are made by General Dynamics' Armaments and Technical Products unit in partnership with Rafael of Israel.
About $82 million will be spent buying up to 148 RG-31 blast- resistant vehicles that can hold as many as 11 troops conducting mine-clearance operations. The RG-31 is made by Land Systems OMC of South Africa.
The Army wants to spend as much as $78 million on .50-caliber machine guns mounted in the turrets of Humvees that are operated by remote control from inside the vehicles. Those are made by Recon/Optical Inc. of Barrington, Illinois.
The systems are in limited use in Iraq and have ``inspired confidence in the soldiers manning them,'' the Army said.
Another $42 million will be used to purchase electronic jammers from EDO Corp. and other companies used in Iraq to detonate roadside bombs rigged to cell phone signals. About 1,000 of the jammers have already been sent to Iraq.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Rob Urban at robprag@bloomberg.net.
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