WASHINGTON, July 2 (UPI) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is urging that up to 17,700 tougher new vehicles be delivered as soon as possible to troops in Iraq.
"For every month we delay, scores of young Americans are going to die," a letter from Sens. Joseph Biden, D-Del., and Kit Bond, R-Mo., to Gates said, USA Today reported Monday.
The Pentagon approved the Army's request for the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected -- MRAP -- vehicles, a 600 percent production increase, USA Today reported. The request could face opposition from congressional budget-writers, the newspaper said.
The vehicles are up to four times more likely to withstand the improvised explosive devices that have become the biggest threat to U.S. troops in Iraq.
Biden and Bond, in their letter, told Gates, that MRAPs could have saved up to 742 troops if they had been delivered when the U.S. Marines in the Al-Anbar province requested them in February 2005, USA Today reported.
