So glad he is alive =] !! Answer Please.?

Question

My stepdad just encountered his second IED explosion ..

the first one was about 2 weeks ago..he was the driver in the lead of a convoy..all the guys survived in the vehicle he was in called a MRAB.

And today..he called and said that he was the middle vehicle in the convoy and yea, again, they hit an IED. He said both times that if he was in a regular HumV he would have probably be suverly injured be dead.

So to get to the point, I wanted to know if anyone ahs any idea if the government is working on making these MRAB's any stronger..to the point that if they hit an IED for instance that it wont even hurt the MRAB and what the differnce between the Humv and the MRAB

It is a true blessing that no one has been injured in these recent happenings.

Answer 1

They wont make them stronger, they'll make stronger vehicles

Answer 2

Actually, it's MRAP.  The MRAP is a heavily armored vehicle, whith armor that slopes and angles to direct the force of a blast away from the vehicle.  They've only recently been adopted, and many units don't have them yet, or don't have sufficient suppies of them.  There's really no way to make a vehicle impervious to an IED.  Some EID are ECP (Explosively Created Penetrator) weapons that can (and have) destroyed even M-1 Abrams battle tanks.

The HUMV is just like the first version of the Hummer you see driving around on the streets here.  It's a big, wide, four wheel drive vehicle that is only very lightly armored.  The armor they are built with usually is designed to stop shell fragments and some rifle ammo, and even when it's upgraded in the field, the armor isn't enough to protect much from IEDs.

I'm very pleased your stepdad is ok.  My son's over there, as well, with the Marines, and their unit doesn't have the MRAP yet.  I worry alot for him.

Oh, here's a link to an article on the MRAP, if you care to check it out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRAP_(armor...  

Answer 3

well its good to hear hes alive and well, hopefully he'll be able to cycle back home real soon. As far as i know some companies are developing stronger vehicles to be able with stand close proximity IEDs, but the main problem is the cost. The US has a contract with Hummer for the mil spec HUMVee. It unlikely that the military will switch anytime soon to something else, but then again the hummer is a very strong vehicle, and it will be hard for someone to build something better.  

Answer 4

Glad to hear he is safe.God Bless him for fighting for our country.