MRAP's really work!
 

This MRAP took a direct hit from a 500 LB bomb (IED) in Iraq.
The vehicle was destroyed but everyone inside walked away.
The explosion blew the engine and drivetrain completely out of the vehicle!

It's easy to see why the Marines want more of these.

Great commute car for the Los Angeles freeways, if you, too, could get the fuel bills paid on the Red Chinese credit card, like it gets done in Iraq..

I am glad it worked.

It seems like there must be a better way....some kindof mine sweeper?

Tom W

Webillmaster - Where did you find these ? I'd like to link/show them to some buddies on a .mil base but fora are blocked there :(
500lb explosive vs. MRAP and thats what we get ? - okay, I as a taxpayer authorize my .gov to buy as many of these as they want. (I think it fared very well against a large explosive).


TW, From what I've seen - a minesweeping tank/vehicle has a big long bar with spinning chains on the front (I'm at work so I dont want to google up a video). Those spinning chains would beat up any person that got near them, and beat up the ground (which is what you want to clear any and all types of mines), and would wear out relatively quickly requiring replacement and slowing their rate of advance.
This is all conjecture on my part, but, perhaps we/someone has come up with a better solution (Its not like there isnt a lot of "anti-mine" human rights .orgs out there.) and I havent seen it. I agree that the great minds of this world must be able to find something, at least for humanitarian efforts.
When you add an urban environment (someone accidently leaves a bomb on the 2nd story of building, children/families playing/trying to make a living, paved roads, cell phone-detonated IED's, lack of 24hr surveillance so people can sneak back in and leave "presents"...) The water gets pretty muddy.

-John

I'm glad the soldiers inside walked away. I am amazed they did though. Looking at the steering wheel and other damage makes me wonder how they could have been protected enough to walk away.:eek:

It's not a solution, it's a tool.

If the enemy discovers that 500# wont work they'll go to 550#. NO DEFENSE is perfect. The best possible defense is to stay on the offensive. And no, offensive does not necessarily mean violence, it means seizing the initiative and forcing the enemy to react to you, rather than vice-versa. In the present case we increased violence a little but mostly (and finally) empowered local people to deal with local threats. Now the enemy must react to locals who have rejected them. That is why the violence has dramatically dropped in Iraq. Not MRAPS.

Does it come with a set of clean drawers?! Sheesh! I'd need a change of drawers if I went through that.

It's good to see that our military is getting better armor than they were at first. I hope that whoever is running this country by this time next year can figure out a way to extract our soldiers from Iraq successfully. That would be the BEST result.

There has been one fatality since MRAP's have been deployed and that was small arms fired through an open window.

They are made in Lansing, Michigan BTW, if the war ends we (Lansing) are in even deeper doo doo.

From the pictures those are some SERIOUSLY think windows on that beast!

"How to do an Iraqi engine swap in 5 seconds or less"

Free shipping to the next county included . . .

Found the problem
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v644/NathanEbert/untitled.jpg

Looks like a clutch problem to me:D

Glad it worked
~Nate

it blew off one of the rear axles as well

Yeah noticed that U-joint needs some servicing too ;p

~Nate

Lets put on our logic caps.... Does anyone know what a 500LB would do? I see no obvious bomb crater, hard to tell, maybe one in the background of the first photo. And explain why none of the windows are broken? Also there is no hole in the bottom of the engine bay, if there was enough force to blow the engine out, why is that plate still intact and not even buckled? Also no burn marks on the body of the truck and none of the tires are flat or shredded.

That said, I don't know what would cause this kind of damage. Maybe dropping from a plane??