The Pentagon plans to order about 3,000 more Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles the week of Dec. 17, marking the largest MRAP order to date, Pentagon officials said. The 3,000 will be split up among the three main MRAP vendors chosen by the U.S. Defense Department during the down-select process in October: Force Protection, Navistar International and BAE Systems. The order will substantially add to the 8,800 MRAPs placed on order thus far by the Defense Department. Overall, the Joint Requirements Oversight Council has approved the purchase of 15,374 vehicles. In an effort to rev up production capacity, Pentagon leaders have set the goal of producing up to 1,200 MRAPs per month by early 2008. However, November MRAP production was only 805 vehicles, more than 100 below the monthly goal. One analyst said the next order could have been substantially larger had the production goal been met. “Because production fell short last month, it is likely the Pentagon will only be able to immediately order the production of approximately 3,000 vehicles, at a pace of 1,000 per month,” said Jim McAleese of McAleese and Associates, a national security law firm. “If contractor production had been able to credibly achieve 1,100 to 1,200 a month, this could have resulted in an immediate order of up to 3,500 vehicles,” McAleese said. “Secretary [John] Young [Pentagon acquisition chief] has been a powerful advocate for protecting those specific contractors who are aggressively meeting their monthly production quotas.”
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