QUANTICO, Va., 16 Jan. 2007. U.S. Marine Corps leaders are ordering an additional 15 Joint Explosive Ordnance Disposal Rapid Response Vehicles (JERRV) to help in the fight against terrorist improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Marine Corps Systems Command at Quantico Marine Base, Va., awarded a $9.4 million contract to Force Protection Industries Inc. in Ladson, S.C., Jan. 11 for 15 of the JERRV trucks commonly known as the Cougar H.
Force Protection experts will deploy and support the vehicles in Iraq. This contract is a sole-source award based on an urgent and compelling need for the government, Marine Corps. officials say.
The Cougar H is a family of medium mine-protected vehicles designed to protect the driver and crew from bullets, rockets, and mines. The vehicle can be configured for IED disposal, with a crew of four infantrymen and a large EOD robot.
The Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory at Quantico Marine Base is doing an industry market research study to find a company to build a system for the Cougar to provide a downward- and forward-looking ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to help identify buried improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and mines.
The ground-penetrating radar would be mounted on the Cougar military vehicle, and would help enable Multi National Forces West (MNF-W) to detect and clear IEDs and hidden mines.
An attached downward-looking GPR needs to provide the Cougar operator with real-time detection and location warning of hazardous devises buried in the road or shoulder at depths as far as 18 inches at a standoff distance without detonating or triggering the explosive.
The Cougar is designed to withstand a 30-pound blast of TNT to either the front or rear axles as well as a 15-pound blast to the center portion of the vehicle. It can serve as a mine-proof troop transport vehicle, a law enforcement special response vehicle, a weapons platform, or an escort protection vehicle.
The Cougar also has ballistic protection for the radiator, fuel tanks, and battery compartments. It is equipped with weapons ports, a M-240G machine gun mount, engineer/explosive ordinance disposal tool storage, two spare tires, and a Nuclear, Biological and Chemical overpressure and filter system. The vehicle gives EOD teams and engineers the ability to maneuver with the speed, mobility and survivability equal to the ground maneuver forces within the Marine Air Ground Task Force.
