ATV MRAPs in Afghanistan

[MtnGoat]

Originally Posted by Peregrino

Sort of like mating elephants at the zoo. Cast of thousands, everybody watching, critiquing and/or offering suggestions, two "participants" doing all the work, and waiting (at least) two years to see the results. I wish a mechanism existed for the Regiment to see what the G8 is doing on our behalf. Unfortunately - as you pointed out - it'll all be OBE before ODAs ever get to use it.

The mating elephants at the zoo comment had me rolling. Yes everything is that way.. process (circle) of life I guess.

[cavscouty]

I have driven the M-ATV during my MRAP training here at my MOB site. As noted above, they are very loud on the outside. I think they are very easy to drive and they have some impressive power. I should be regularly riding them in theater here in a couple/few weeks and I'll try to update here then.

I have a feeling we are going to like them though, but, we'll see.

[tcush]

MtnGoat is spot on with what we've found regarding lack of attachment points/storage racks/etc. They could've atleast made the spare tire carrier swing away for easy access to the back. Trying to squeeze spools of c-wire around the spare sucks. And no interior ammo can tie downs. Who the hell wrote the specs on this thing?

The biggest issue I've found is the lack of headroom. I'm 6'2" and can't sit in the driver's seat with my NODs flipped up, and even without NODs, I'm constantly hitting the DVE screen when it's flipped up. Throw a MILES halo on, and turning your head becomes impossible because the comms switch box is so close it catches the sensor pods. Simply put, the interior is too cramped for the standard rifleman's loadout. Never mind the non-telescoping/tilting steering wheel; forget about squeezing in there with full saw pouches on the front of your IOTV.

Pros: Awesome offroad capabilities.

Cons: Poorly thought out interior and exterior features considering earlier vehicles (MRAP, HMMWV) already had many of these things figured out.