WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- A new add-on armor system for U.S. military vehicles is so heavy it bogs down the engines, a U.S. senator warned.
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., expressed his concerns to Defense Secretary Robert Gates in a letter regarding the armor known as a Frag Kit 6, USA Today reported Tuesday.
The kits were designed to protect vehicles and their occupants from deadly roadside bombs known as explosively formed penetrators that have emerged in the war in Iraq with armor-piercing capabilities.
The kits are part of a larger new design of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles which the Pentagon has approved buying as many as 17,700, the report said.
The vehicles' bodies ride higher from the ground and have a V-shaped hull to resist the bombs.
The Pentagon declined to comment to USA Today about the design flaw allegations.
