WP: U.S. to Armor-Plate Iraqi Police Vehicles

Reacting to criticism that the United States has not provided the right equipment to Iraqi security forces, the Multi-National Command in Baghdad has been seeking a contractor to put armor on 1,300 American-made SUVs and pickup trucks used by the Iraqi National Police.

The awarding of the contract was scheduled for yesterday.

The program is being undertaken two years after Iraqis began to be recruited because the Iraqi National Police "have been losing policemen due to small arms fire and IEDs while operating in their patrol trucks," according to the solicitation for bidders published last month.

The planned work is to provide either steel or composite plates for the doors and undercarriage of the vehicles to protect against bullets of up to 7.62mm caliber, the ammunition fired by the AK-47s used by many of the insurgents.

The armoring will require the contractor to upgrade each vehicle's suspension system to support the added weight and to do the work in a way that leaves the driver and passenger in the front seat with the ability to see the rearview mirrors. In addition, the contractor has to provide space behind the cab of the pickup trucks for machine guns that can swivel a full 360 degrees.

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