Army predicts long life for humvees.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: UPFRONT

When armored humvees failed to shield troops in Iraq, the military services quickly began acquiring hundreds of MRAPs, or mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles.

But despite assertions that the MRAP will eventually replace all humvees in military missions, a more accurate prediction is that humvees will vastly outnumber MRAPs for the foreseeable future, at least if the Army has any say in it.

"The humvee is not going anywhere. It will be with us until 2026, possibly until 2030," said Col. Jeffrey Helmick, transportation capabilities manager at the Army Training and Doctrine Command.

While the Army will be adding more MRAPs to its array of combat vehicles in Iraq--primarily to augment its armored troop carriers in convoy security duties--it will continue to rely on armored humvees as the primary tactical truck, Helmick told an industry conference in Alexandria, Va., hosted by the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement.

Outside Iraq, and especially in homeland defense operations, the hulking MRAP vehicles--designed with V-shaped hulls to repel improvised explosive devices--will have limited utility, he noted. "You'll never see an MRAP in downtown New Orleans. You'll see a humvee."

Helmick, who commanded an Army battalion during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, recently returned there and noticed that despite a growing number of MRAP vehicles, units continue to install armor on humvees. "Soldiers in the motor pool are making a difference when it comes to up armoring," Helmick said.

The Marine Corps announced earlier this year that it would begin substituting all armored humvees with MRAPs. The Army will not take humvees out of service, but will integrate MRAP vehicles into the fleet as they become available. "The Army is not replacing M1151-A1 [humvees] one-for-one with MRAPs," Helmick said. "We are taking some off the road and replacing them with [M1117] armored security vehicles for convoy security."

Helmick estimated that Army units in Iraq currently have about 1,100 MRAPs, although that number continually increases as more vehicles arrive from the United States. By comparison, there are more than 21,000 humvees there.

Most of the humvees are being equipped with an add-on armor package known as "Frag Kit 5."

A small number of trucks have been outfitted with the heavier and larger "Frag Kit 6." But this variant has not been well received by troops because it adds too much width to the vehicle. Soldiers have complained that the...