Top Marine To Check Out New Armored Vehicle In Iraq Tuesday

Monday December 13, 3:17 PM EST

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The top officer in the U.S. Marines will take a look at a new armored transport truck in Iraq on Tuesday, according to the vehicle's manufacturer.

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee will encounter the Cougar, made by Force Protection Inc. (FRCP), during an inspection of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, if the event takes place as scheduled. The troop-transport trucks are designed to keep passengers safe from land mines, homemade bombs and other attacks.

In a Monday interview with Dow Jones Newswires, company executives said the Cougar is designed for urban war, where there are no front lines and no clear battlefields.

"If you're going to stand around on a street corner trying to win hearts and minds, you better be able to take a punch, because you've got a big target on your back," said Mike Aldrich, vice president of sales and a retired Army officer. He says the vehicles are designed to keep passengers unhurt, not just alive, after an attack.

Vehicle armor and other types of protective gear catapulted into the spotlight last week, when soldiers headed for Iraq raised the issue with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The Army is adding armor kits and armored vehicles to its arsenal, but the adequacy of these efforts remains in question.

Most of the Army's vehicles are cargo trucks or Humvees, which weren't designed for combat zones. The Army has turned to "up-armored" Humvees for extra protection, but these vehicles are still vulnerable to some blasts.

The Cougar is descended from vehicles used in Southern Africa, where insurgent-style conflict has raged for decades, said Aldrich and Force Protection Chairman Frank Kavanaugh. It costs about $400,000 per vehicle and comes in versions with four or six wheels.

Force Protection's truck includes important differences from a Humvee that make it more resilient. For example, the vehicle bottom is U-shaped to deflect blasts from below, wheels are set outside the crew cab instead of underneath, and it has extra weight so it will stay upright.

"The next time you're looking at an upside down burning Humvee, you'll notice the wheels are inside the passenger cabin, and you'll notice how flat the vehicle is underneath," Aldrich said.

The Cougar uses parts made by American firms like Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) and Mack Trucks Inc. (MAK.XX) so it will be easier to repair in the field. For example, the Cougar uses the same engines as the U.S. Army's new Stryker wheeled combat vehicles, made by General Dynamics Corp. (GD), which have received rave reviews for their performance in Iraq.

So far, South Carolina-based Force Protection remains a small player in military contracting circles, although it is growing. The seven-year old firm has about 140 employees now, compared with 20 a few years ago.

Force Protection had revenue of about $6 million in 2003. It is on track to double that this year, Kavanaugh said.

However, the changing nature of war in Iraq has set the stage for the company to sell more Cougars and its other line of vehicles, a land-mine-clearing vehicle called the Buffalo that costs about $750,000 each and recently has been used in Afghanistan.

"We're trying to design the ultimate vehicle - the vehicle that you want to be in if you're going to be hit by a blast," Kavanaugh said.