Marine Corps MRAP Vehicles

Posted by Susan Kristoff Feb 27, 2008

This week, CNN reported that the Marine Corps is questioning bureaucratic delays in the delivery of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAPs, currently in production. MRAPs are a new breed of combat vehicle, designed to deflect the blast of a mine or improvised explosive device (IED) to reduce casualties of soldiers riding in the vehicles.

In many cases, injuries caused by shrapnel and debris is secondary in this type of attack. The primary injuries are from the blast wave itself, or the acceleration that the blast induces on the vehicle. The MRAP reduces the effect of the blast on the vehicle through the use of a V-shaped hull. The hull deflects the blast wave out and away from the vehicle, reducing the impact on the floor of the vehicle, and in turn the crew within the vehicle.

MRAPs aren't invincible, however. The current designs for MRAPs can be compromised by Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFPs), which are armor-piercing bombs designed to breach the vehicle hull, rather than just produce a shock wave. EFPs are becoming more widely used in Iraq. There are designs underway for MRAP II that will increase their effectiveness against EFPs, although these designs have yet to be fabricated and tested in combat situations. The engineering challenge is to create a protection scheme for a vehicle that is not so heavy that the vehicle cannot operate properly, so simply increasing the steel structure and skin of the vehicle is not an option.

Sources:

CNN.com - Marines want probe into armored vehicle program delays - 2/26/08

Wired.com - MRAP vs. Superbombs - 8/24/07