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US troops not bullet-proof
14/10/2003 08:44 - (SA)
Washington - Nearly one-quarter of the 130&nsbp;000 US troops in Iraq still have not been issued a new type of ceramic body armour strong enough to stop bullets fired from assault rifles.
Delays in funding, production and shipping mean it will be December before all troops in Iraq will have the vests, which were introduced four years ago, military officials say.
Congress approved $310m in April to buy 300 000 more of the bullet-proof vests, with 30 000 destined to complete outfitting of the troops in Iraq. Of that money, however, only about $75m has reached the army office responsible for overseeing the vests' manufacture and distribution, said David Nelson, an official in that office.
Angry members of Congress have denounced the Pentagon. They say up to 44 000 troops lack the best vests because of the sluggish supply chain, significantly more than the Pentagon figure. Relatives of some soldiers have resorted buying body armour in the United States and shipping it to the soldiers, congressional critics say.
The House version of an $86.7bn Iraq spending bill passed last week would include $251m for body armour and for clearing unexploded munitions, although it's unclear if additional money would speed up the process at this point. President George W Bush's original request included no more money for body armour.
The military's Interceptor vests, introduced in 1999, include removable ceramic plates in the front and back that can stop bullets such as the 7.62mm rounds fired by Kalashnikov rifles common in Iraq and Afghanistan. Older-model vests can protect against shrapnel and other low-speed projectiles but not high-velocity rifle rounds.
Several soldiers serving in both countries have credited the Interceptor vests with saving their lives.
Each vest and its plates weighs more 7kg and costs more than $1 500.
The shortfall in Iraq came because the military's need for body armour outstripped its ability to make and deliver the Interceptor plates, said Nelson, the army's deputy product manager for outfitting soldiers.
The army already had boosted production to supply soldiers fighting in Afghanistan when planning for the Iraq war began in earnest last year, Nelson said.
"It's not a question of money, it's a question of capacity to manufacture these devices," the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, General Richard Myers, told a Senate committee last month. "We're making them as quickly as we can."
Of the American soldiers in Iraq who already have the body armour, some received it before arriving in Iraq and others after their deployment.
- AP
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