Does the MRAP Meet the US Army's Needs as the Primary Method of Protecting Troops From the IED Threat?

<p>The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) threat to the US Army and various methods used to counter this threat. The Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle (MRAP) is the current method. This paper will address the US Army's needs to defeat the IED threat as well as the capabilities and limitations of the MRAP. The Secretary of Defense Robert Gates made the MRAP the top priority for the US military purchases accelerating the procurement process that routinely takes ten years into nine months. This paper will answer the question: Does the MRAP meet the needs of the US Army to protect troops from IED threat? This will be answered by looking at the IED threat to determine requirements to protect troops. These requirements include protection rapid fielding and supportability. Non-MRAP countermeasures will be examined to determine if they meet these requirements. The MRAP will be analyzed to determine if the capabilities of the MRAP meet these requirements. This paper will examine facts that will show non-MRAP methods alone do not have the capacity to effectively protect troops from the IED threat.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>