The MRAP: was it worth the price?

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Date: 01 October 2012
• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin

Mine-resistant ambush vehicles, better known as MRAPs, have been credited with saving thousands of lives in Iraq and Afghanistan--40,000 to be exact, as reported by the Pentagon's Joint Program Office for Mine-Resistant Protected Vehicles.

But recently, the $45 billion MRAP program has come under fire for its high cost, and some have questioned whether less expensive vehicles--such as armored Humvees--would have been just as effective in preventing loss of life.

In a recent Foreign Affairs article titled "The MRAP Boondoggle," authors Chris Rohlfs and Ryan Sullivan, professors of economics at Syracuse University and the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, respectively, argued that it was a wasteful program.

"Data from the battlefield does not support the claims that MRAPs are highly effective in decreasing the number of U.S. causalities," said the authors, citing their own study where they used For Official Use Only data supplied by the Defense Department.

"For infantry units, one life was saved for every seven...