Orders for Blast-Resistant Vehicles by Marines Not Met
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Wednesday, July 11, 2007
The Marine Corps said yesterday that it received fewer blast-resistant vehicles than promised last month, as manufacturers struggled to meet production goals aimed at speeding shipments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Delivery of vehicles for the month of June fell slightly short of goal," 1st Lt. Geraldine C. Carey, a Marine Corps spokeswoman, said in an e-mail response to questions. She didn't give figures for the goals or deliveries, but said "every possible effort" was being made to meet targets.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has said the purchase of mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles, or MRAPs, is the Pentagon's top procurement priority to better protect troops from bomb attacks. The shortfall shows the difficulty manufacturers face boosting capacity and securing materials such as armor and impact-resistant glass to deliver trucks in as little as four months.
Three companies won orders in February that were expected to be completed in June, Carey said. The combined orders were valued at $160.2 million for 275 trucks, the Defense Department said at the time. Awardees included Force Protection, BAE Systems and Protected Vehicles.
The Marine Corps said July 2 that it would buy as many as 20,000 more of the vehicles, for about $20 billion through a competition to be decided in January.
Force Protection of Ladson, S.C., the largest maker of blast-resistant vehicles for the Marines, delivered more than 100 of its Cougar and Buffalo trucks last month, said Michael M. Aldrich, vice president for government relations.
Force Protection won a $67.4 million award in February for 125 Cougar trucks to be shipped by June. The company made up the deliveries this month, Aldrich said in an e-mail yesterday.
General Dynamics is building a blast-resistant truck, the RG-31, under an $11 million award in February for 20 trucks. Ken Yamashita, a company spokesman, said yesterday that the Falls Church company would deliver all its vehicles by the end of September.
Protected Vehicles in North Charleston, S.C., was to deliver 60 trucks by June under its $37.4 million award. Testing of its prototypes resulted in an "adjusted standard" to which all 60 trucks will now be built, spokesman Drew Felty said July 6. The trucks will be shipped by the end of August, he said.
Doug Coffey, a spokesman for London-based BAE, said he didn't have information available on vehicle deliveries. BAE's $55.4 million award in February covered 90 vehicles.
