Picture of the Day - "Progress" in Iraq / Update

Iraki war is beneffit to US industry. What irakis do to US doldiers is - again - beneffit to US industry. Oh! Our troops are diyng and are horriblle wounded in their patrol vechicles? Ok! We spend more money ... And "american way" is on his way... Why do you expect to retreat our soldiers from a foreign country (with people hostile to US)? We spend some money... US soldiers are diyng for good of the US economy!!! This is the war - in american way!

"Textron Systems Awarded U.S. Army Contract for 212 More Armored Security Vehicles to Protect Troops in Iraq

WILMINGTON, Mass. --- Textron Marine & Land (TM&L) of New Orleans, Louisiana, an operating unit of Textron Systems Corporation, today announced that it has been awarded a contract modification by the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command (TACOM) to manufacture an additional 212 M1117 Armored Security Vehicles (ASV).

All 212 vehicles have been designated for use by the U.S. Army and are potentially worth up to $155 million, subject to final contract terms. The newly contracted 212 vehicles are scheduled to be delivered by April 2006.

Textron Systems president Dick Millman said "We are proud to be building high quality armored vehicles that provide outstanding protection for our soldiers fighting in Iraq. We have already significantly increased our production rate and, with this order, will achieve a rate of 36 vehicles a month by the 4th quarter of next year. We've been working closely with the Army since the summer to more quickly get these important vehicles to our soldiers and are nearing completion of the investments needed to increase capacity."

Textron Marine & Land, based in New Orleans, has been making changes to its production line, expanding its manufacturing space and hiring the necessary workforce. "We hired more than 180 new employees to get the production lines ready for this contract," said B. Clay Moise, Textron Marine & Land vice president of marine and combat vehicles. "And we anticipate hiring 200 more employees by this time next year," added Moise. "The company has been building and expanding facilities to meet our customers' needs."

"The Army has had all available ASVs in Iraq for some time, protecting our soldiers. We have received numerous thank you letters from soldiers who have survived enemy attack and have come out of the incidents unharmed. It's a rewarding and humbling experience to be a part of manufacturing such a powerful lifesaving tool," Moise added.

The ASV is a 4x4 wheeled armored vehicle that offers exceptional crew protection with multiple layers of armor that provide defense against medium caliber armor-piercing machine gun fire, large artillery fragments, and land mines. This advanced armor is exceedingly lightweight and allows the vehicle to be able to "roll on/roll off" military transport aircraft. The ASV possesses superior mobility, agility, handling and ride quality through the utilization of a new all-wheel independent suspension. Textron's Cadillac Gage has equipped the ASV with a specially designed dual-weapon station that, unlike many other vehicles, enables all ammunition reload to be performed under armor and allows the crew to remain protected from enemy fire.

Textron Systems Corporation, a Textron company, provides innovative technology solutions to meet the needs of the global aerospace and defense industries. The company supports military precision engagement and dominant maneuver with strike weapons, mobility and surveillance systems. The Textron name is well known in the areas of advanced weapons, surveillance systems, aircraft control components, specialty marine craft and armored vehicles. "

Textron Sys.

Iama

well, this entire irak war is becoming really boring......we hardly see any of it on the news...i believe we will find out about it being over one month later....


my suggestion, usa go home and start selling movie rights about it....u know, us soldiers killing those dangerous iraki babies for world peace....and then have a coca-cola, check the time on a rolex and start walking home wearing nike and prada...........

This post has been edited by Indrid on December 28, 2004 10:05 am

Indrid you have such a good ideea! Send an e-mail to president@whitehouse.us and share this ideea to "big chief" ...

Iama

i would but he cannot read or write...........

Armor Procurement on Schedule, or what improvments come with iraqi war...


Source: US Army

"
WASHINGTON --- The Army will meet its requirement of 8,105 up-armored Humvees by March 2005, has equipped all deployed soldiers and DoD civilians with Interceptor Body Armor, and has also developed a more flexible system for meeting field commander’s equipment needs.

In a roundtable discussion with members of the media Dec. 30, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson, deputy for Acquisition and Systems Management, and other members of the Army staff discussed the procurement of material and armor for both vehicles and people in theater.

Sorenson said the issue of providing armor for vehicles has evolved as the conflict in Iraq has changed mission requirements.

“On the march to Baghdad, we had mostly armored-type vehicles, tanks, Bradleys or whatever” Sorenson said. “After that, the Army wanted to be less obtrusive and made a conscious decision to lower that to one-third of the force and go to motorized vehicles.”

He said the threat that developed from improvised explosive devices, known as IEDs, drove the need for additional up-armored vehicles.

More than 6,000 factory-produced up-armored Humvees are already in the CENTCOM area of operations, Sorenson said. Of the other Humvees there, roughly 80 percent -- or about 10,500 -- now have been equipped with armor, either at the factory or via field installation.

“It’s not just armoring of vehicles,” Sorenson said. “We’ve added body armor for our personnel, methods to prevent improvised explosive devices from working. It’s been a holistic effort.”

He said the Army has also improved force protection by creating an IED Task Force that analyzes every incident to help determine new ways to counter the threat of insurgency.

Col. Ed Donnelly, chief of the Dominant Maneuver Division, G8, said protecting Soldiers in the field is also the mission of the Army’s Interceptor Body Armor.

“The IBA consists of an outer tactical vest or OTV and small arms protective inserts or SAPI,” Donnelly said. “It’s been augmented this year with the Deltoid Axillary Protector, which is an ambidextrous add-on to protect the shoulder and arm.”

He said the Army is currently producing 25,000 sets of IBA per month, and will continue to do so until reaching the goal of having more than 800,000 sets sometime in the second quarter of fiscal year 2006. Currently, the Army can equip all of its personnel in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and the Horn of Africa with the protective gear. Soon it will be part of every Soldier’s field equipment, in both forward and training environments, he said.

Dr. Forrest Crain, director of Capabilities Integration, Privatization and Analysis, G-3, said the Army has improved its methods for acquiring new equipment to meet the need of commanders in the field. “Commanders can create an Operational Needs Statement,” Crain said.

He said the ONS system allows commanders to evaluate a need, create a statement that goes through the chain of command, and allows the Department of the Army to meet the requirement if it cannot be met at lower levels. “Before Sept. 11, we received less than 12 of these a year. Since October, 2002, we received 2,600. In 2004, we received 1,400 ONS statements,” Crain said.

He said meeting an ONS request is much more rapid than is traditional in Army acquisitions. “If you think about the normal process, where the military is buying something like the F-22 fighter or the M-1 Abrams tank for the first time, that’s a multi-year process,” Crain said. “In the ONS system, if a commander needs, say, sniper rifles, he puts together an ONS. It isn’t a complicated or bureaucratic process, but it runs through the chain of command because commanders may not be aware of all the resources available.”

He said the ONS requests are handled by officers who have specific areas of expertise. “Requirement staff officers look to see if it’s just a matter of redistributing something. They look at new ways to meet the requirement. For example, we’ve had an increased need for .50-caliber machineguns. The Navy had a lot of them, and we were able to meet the need from their stores,” Crain said.

He said a council of colonels meets to validate and prioritize the ONS and how they are met. “When it comes to reaching the priorities, it’s a common-sense approach,” Crain said. “The first needs that are met are those that are in theater, in combat. Next are units that are getting ready to deploy.”

Crain said a unit’s component isn’t a factor. “It doesn’t matter if it is a Reserve or active component, what matters is whether it is in combat or next to deploy,” he said. "

Iama

just in: the governor o irak: kaput!!!

It was the Iraqi Governor of Baghdad who was asasinated today.

well, i just heard on tv that he was assasinated...actuallty it was the governor of baghdad..........

here it is...http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4144511.stm

Ironically, he reportedly said yesterday that Baghdad is extremely safe.

well then he deserves being killed for saying a stupid thing like that..baghdad safe...yeah right....

I remember you saying some harsh words about people who thought that Ceausescu deserved to be assasinated. I don't know too much on Ali al Hidri, but he surely wasn't comparable with Ceausescu in crimes against his own people.

read my post...i only was being ironical....this is no lauging matter, not as he was saying it. how can he claim irak is safe? come on...i was just saying that maybe he payed the price for his words.

It isn't unusual for politicians to tell lies.

that was not a lie...u lie when u hope and have a vey big chance of gettng away with it....that was plain stupid. i bet the us made him say that

Anyway, i propose you to be baned! You use harassment tactics and words against a man without possibility to defend himself - for obvious reasons (its dead!). And, in a good tradition on this forum i call the sheriff: Victooooor!

Iama