ARMY SAYS NO TO AD-​​HOC ARMOR

Last week, we talked about how U.S. sol­diers are adding jury-​​rigged armor to their Humvees, to toughen the vehi­cles up against RPGs and road­side explo­sives. Now, the Army is telling its troops to cut it out — or be very, very care­ful, at least.
What we want to avoid is hav­ing sol­diers adding ad-​​hoc armor to their vehi­cles and giv­ing them­selves a false sense of secu­rity, Maj. Gen. N. Ross Thompson III, com­mand­ing gen­eral for the Armys Tank-​​automotive and Armaments Command, says in a state­ment.
An Army press release warns of the “poten­tial con­se­quences” of ad-​​hoc armor: “more required main­te­nance as the addi­tional weight will likely mean early struc­ture and mechan­i­cal fail­ures, and reduc­tion in the amount of cargo the vehi­cle can safely carry… Drivers will need more time to brake due to the increased weight; and the added mate­r­ial could pos­si­bly change the vehi­cles cen­ter of grav­ity, increas­ing the risk of vehi­cle rollover.“
Sensible guide­lines? Or bureau­cratic clamp-​​down?

February 11th, 2004 | War Update | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.