Oshkosh installs new counter-IED kits

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OSHKOSH, Wis., Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Oshkosh Defense and the U.S. military have installed 3,500 underbody improvement kits to M-ATV vehicles in Afghanistan.

The kits provide better protection against larger improvised explosive devices.

The task was performed in less than seven months, Oshkosh said. And the first kit for the MRAPs was designed and delivered in just 30 days as a result of close cooperation between the company and the military's MRAP Joint Program Office.

"Oshkosh Defense uses a modular approach to vehicle design, allowing the M-ATV and several other fielded platforms to accept a wide range of upgrades in-theater as threats evolve," said John Bryant, vice president and general manager of Joint and Marine Corps Programs for Oshkosh Defense.

"We design UIKs and test them thoroughly to meet the government's stringent survivability requirements. Our field service representatives then go wherever needed, including in-theater, to install the kits in rapid fashion."

In addition to the kits for the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, Oshkosh makes UIKs for other trucks and is developing and testing UIK enhancements for a full range of tactical vehicles.

Oshkosh, which received orders for more than 8,000 of the enhancement kits, is continuing in-theater installation.