Marines Skirt Procurement Maze to Rush Tougher Trucks to Iraq

[rodeodance]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a6EIBdVJEtig&refer=us

Marines Skirt Procurement Maze to Rush Tougher Trucks to Iraq

By Edmond Lococo

May 4 (Bloomberg) -- A suicide car-bomber pulled alongside a U.S. Marine Corps Buffalo mine-clearing truck in Iraq and detonated. Inside, Gunnery Sergeant Anthony Lindsey felt a bump.

``We got a flat tire and that was about it,'' Lindsey, 27, says of the 2006 blast near Habbaniyah. ``Those vehicles, outside of maybe a tank, are the safest things in Iraq.''
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Instead of handing prototype awards to one or two contractors, the Marines signed deals with nine. Within 19 days, two companies with test vehicles won early-production contracts, including the Buffalo's builder, Force Protection Inc. A week later, three more got the go-ahead. The U.S. plans to spend $8.4 billion over two years for as many as 7,700 trucks. That's $1 million apiece, including electronics gear and services costs.

``It's unprecedented,'' Captain Jeffrey Landis, a Marine Corps spokesman, says of the purchasing push.
.......

Compromises

To offer better protection with advanced trucks, the Marines will make some compromises. Conceding the battle for cost-efficiency by paying $1 million a vehicle is only one. The new trucks, for example, are being produced only for immediate use in Iraq and Afghanistan and won't serve longer-term needs.

[madrchsod]

1. perfect truck for crowd control here in the usa.

just think how well these trucks could have been used in LA this week