seruriermarshal
04-27-2004, 11:59 PM
US may send more heavy armor to Iraq: Myers
Politics - AFP
US may send more heavy armor to Iraq: Myers
Tue Apr 27, 6:13 PM ET Add Politics - AFP to My Yahoo!
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US military may send more heavy armor to Iraq (news - web sites), the top US general said, amid concerns that even new armored Humvees do not offer enough protection as attacks on coalition troops intensify.
General Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said commanders have indicated they were going to ask for heavier equipment although he had not yet seen a formal request.
"Some of these units, you know, left a lot of their heavy equipment back because the task was not suited to M-1s and Bradleys as much as it is to other means of conveyance and other ways of doing the job," he said.
"So some of them may have changed," he said. "As the situation changes, they'll adapt to them."
The 1st Cavalry Division, which took over responsibility for Baghdad earlier this month, deployed to Iraq without most of its heavy armor because the mission appeared at the time to call for more mobile, light infantry forces.
The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, now fighting in the insurgent-held city of Fallujah, deployed with only about 16 tanks, a marine spokesman said. It has enough light armored reconnaissance vehicles to equip a battalion, and a smaller number of amphibious tracked vehicles.
Both units found themselves thrust into some of the bloodiest fighting in nearly a year soon after arriving in Iraq.
Myers said amounts of heavy equipment being sought were modest and did not represent "a major change in philosophy" on the kind of forces needed to fight the war.
General John Abizaid, the commander of US forces in Iraq, had asked for a lighter force tailored to the kind of simmering low intensity conflict that had characterized the conflict after Baghdad fell to US troops last year.
But the eruption of fighting in Fallujah, followed by a wave of uprisings by Shiites in Baghdad and several southern cities this month, has raised concerns about the vulnerability of US forces facing escalating urban combat.
Newsweek reported this week that an unofficial study by a defense consultant found that of a total of 789 coalition deaths as of April 15, 142 were killed by land mines or improvised explosive devices, while 48 others died in rocket-propelled-grenade attacks.
General Larry Ellis, head of the army's Forces Command, warned in a March 30 memo that armored Humvees have not proven to be the solution that the army had hoped to achieve.
He urged that funding be found immediately to double production of light armored vehicles Stryker vehicles.
But Myers said the protection offered by the Stryker vehicles is about the same as an armored Humvee. Even tanks have been blown over by roadside bombs made with artillery rounds, he said.
"None of these systems provide 100 percent protection. That's the fact," he said.
He said the military has made a big effort to replace thin-skinned Humvees with armored Humvees.
There are now a little over 2,000 of the armored Humvees in Iraq, about half the number required, and production has been ramped up to the limit of the manufacturer's capability, he said.
But Myers admitted, "The requirement continues to go up as the nature of this fight changes, as we adapt to the enemy tactics."
"And what people forget sometimes, that we're actually at war here. And we have adversaries that think, and they adapt to our tactics," he said.
Politics - AFP
US may send more heavy armor to Iraq: Myers
Tue Apr 27, 6:13 PM ET Add Politics - AFP to My Yahoo!
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US military may send more heavy armor to Iraq (news - web sites), the top US general said, amid concerns that even new armored Humvees do not offer enough protection as attacks on coalition troops intensify.
General Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said commanders have indicated they were going to ask for heavier equipment although he had not yet seen a formal request.
"Some of these units, you know, left a lot of their heavy equipment back because the task was not suited to M-1s and Bradleys as much as it is to other means of conveyance and other ways of doing the job," he said.
"So some of them may have changed," he said. "As the situation changes, they'll adapt to them."
The 1st Cavalry Division, which took over responsibility for Baghdad earlier this month, deployed to Iraq without most of its heavy armor because the mission appeared at the time to call for more mobile, light infantry forces.
The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, now fighting in the insurgent-held city of Fallujah, deployed with only about 16 tanks, a marine spokesman said. It has enough light armored reconnaissance vehicles to equip a battalion, and a smaller number of amphibious tracked vehicles.
Both units found themselves thrust into some of the bloodiest fighting in nearly a year soon after arriving in Iraq.
Myers said amounts of heavy equipment being sought were modest and did not represent "a major change in philosophy" on the kind of forces needed to fight the war.
General John Abizaid, the commander of US forces in Iraq, had asked for a lighter force tailored to the kind of simmering low intensity conflict that had characterized the conflict after Baghdad fell to US troops last year.
But the eruption of fighting in Fallujah, followed by a wave of uprisings by Shiites in Baghdad and several southern cities this month, has raised concerns about the vulnerability of US forces facing escalating urban combat.
Newsweek reported this week that an unofficial study by a defense consultant found that of a total of 789 coalition deaths as of April 15, 142 were killed by land mines or improvised explosive devices, while 48 others died in rocket-propelled-grenade attacks.
General Larry Ellis, head of the army's Forces Command, warned in a March 30 memo that armored Humvees have not proven to be the solution that the army had hoped to achieve.
He urged that funding be found immediately to double production of light armored vehicles Stryker vehicles.
But Myers said the protection offered by the Stryker vehicles is about the same as an armored Humvee. Even tanks have been blown over by roadside bombs made with artillery rounds, he said.
"None of these systems provide 100 percent protection. That's the fact," he said.
He said the military has made a big effort to replace thin-skinned Humvees with armored Humvees.
There are now a little over 2,000 of the armored Humvees in Iraq, about half the number required, and production has been ramped up to the limit of the manufacturer's capability, he said.
But Myers admitted, "The requirement continues to go up as the nature of this fight changes, as we adapt to the enemy tactics."
"And what people forget sometimes, that we're actually at war here. And we have adversaries that think, and they adapt to our tactics," he said.