Report criticizes new IED-proof vehicles

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. military's new armored vehicle designed to counter improvised explosive devices may not be all it's cracked up to be, a non-partisan think tank said.

The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment in Washington said the new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAP, has a high V-shaped chassis that deflects the IEDs. But, the center said, it also insulates combat forces from local populations, putting a damper on the intelligence needed for counterinsurgency operations, USA Today reported.

The Pentagon has ordered 6,500 of the vehicles and wants 15,000 more next year. Each costs between $500,000 and $750,000.

The center also noted the vehicle's fuel use is twice that of the Humvee, the current standard vehicle in Iraq, and that means more fuel convoys on the road, which are more vulnerable to IEDs.

“Will we provide the enemy with more targets for their IEDs?” said the center’s president, Andrew Krepinevich, in USA Today.

Current and former military officers at a conference coinciding with the report's release said that the threat from IEDs will be there anyway and said they don't see the MRAPs standing in the way of counterinsurgency operations.