From: J. Wiehe (j.wiehe@sympatico.ca)
Date: Sat Dec 27 2003 - 15:25:20 PST
This was forwarded to me.
I hope that all can follow the thread.
Jim Wiehe VA3JHW
j.wiehe@sympatico.ca
>
> Subject: HML: Fascinating article on AM General today
>
>
> > This article was published today (12/27/03) in the Business section of the
> > Arizona Republic.
> > http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/1227humveeplant27.html
> >
> > Since the Arizona Republic only archives their articles for 7 days, I'm
> > posting the article in this message as well.
> >
> > Side note - It's interesting that my conversation with Craig MacNab a few
> > weeks ago about the gearing of AMG's production line towards the military
> is
> > reinforced with this article.
> >
> > If it means that we don't have any 2004 models yet as a trade off for our
> > troops' safety - it's worth it!
> > -----------------------------------
> > Losses mean more armored Humvees
> >
> >
> > Army boosts new vehicle orders tenfold
> >
> > Fara Warner
> > AP Dec. 27, 2003 12:00 AM
> >
> >
> > MISHAWAKA, Ind. - Attacks on Humvees in Iraq are reverberating in this
> small
> > Indiana town, where a production line is gearing up to sate a growing
> hunger
> > for these vehicles and hopefully save soldiers' lives.
> >
> > The military, though, does not want just any Humvees. Too many soldiers
> have
> > faced machine-gun or grenade attacks in vehicles clad in fiberglass and
> > aluminum, often with fatal consequences. So the Army, realizing it had not
> > ordered enough armored vehicles, sent out an urgent call for more. The AM
> > General plant here is doing its best to comply.
> >
> > One recent day, an unfinished dull green vehicle marked M1114 rolled along
> the
> > production line, a model designed to carry 3,000 pounds of armor. The
> result
> > will be what AM General's spokesman, Craig C. Mac Nab, calls a "mobile
> > foxhole."
> >
> > Such protection has made the $150,000 M1114 - an unarmored Humvee costs
> less
> > than half that - the most sought-after ride in Iraq. While the exact
> number of
> > deaths from attacks on unarmored vehicles is not known, estimates range
> from
> > 30 to 60 of about 200 Americans killed since President Bush declared an
> end of
> > major combat operations early in May.
> >
> > Such statistics, along with a barrage of criticism from parents of dead
> > soldiers and members of congressional delegations visiting Iraq, forced
> the
> > Army in August to increase more than tenfold its orders for armored
> Humvees,
> > to 2,957 from 235. It hopes to have 3,500 armored Humvees, including
> armored
> > vehicles that are already in use in Iraq and Afghanistan, "just as soon as
> > possible," an Army spokesman, Maj. Gary Tallman, said. Now, the Army says
> it
> > has 1,500 armored Humvees in Iraq, and more than 12,500 unarmored ones.
> >
> > Aside from a response to combat dangers, "armored Humvees also are part of
> the
> > Army's transformation into a lighter, more mobile fighting force," said
> Don
> > Jarosz, a public-affairs specialist with the Army's Tank-Automotive and
> > Armaments Command in Warren, Mich., which oversees the Humvee contracts.
> >
> > But no matter the short- or longer-term reasons, both AM General and
> > O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt of Fairfield, Ohio, which mounts the armor, are
> > quickly shifting production and reconfiguring their factories to meet the
> > demand.
> >
> > For AM General, the sole worldwide maker of the High Mobility Multipurpose
> > Wheeled Vehicle (Humvee's full, official description), this means
> reorganizing
> > a production line that can already turn out more than 50 versions of the
> > Humvee, including ambulances and missile-carrying models.
> >
> > The factory now produces 30 vehicles a day, including about 10 of the
> M1114s.
> > Mac Nab said that by February the factory, which can turn out more than 50
> > Humvees a day and could go to overtime or double shifts if necessary,
> could be
> > making "little else than M1114s."
> >
> > Workers here said they thought the production line would be pumping out
> more
> > Humvees, both armored and unarmored, by now.
> >
> > "When the war first started, I expected a jump in production," said Glen
> > Nethercutt, 36, a line repairman.
> >
> > Thomas Kendel, 57, an assembly-line worker, said, "You read the papers and
> you
> > see these guys sitting in Hummers with holes shot through them and you
> think,
> > 'Why did they wait this long to order more armored ones?' "
> >
> > A number of U.S. senators, like Jack Reed, D-R.I., who traveled to Iraq in
> > July, have criticized the Army for not having enough armored vehicles.
> Reed's
> > press secretary, Greg McCarthy, said, "The senator believes the
> administration
> > failed to understand the mission. It didn't see the needs brought on by
> this
> > hostile action."
> >
> > As for O'Gara-Hess, it has taken significant steps to increase its
> > armor-equipping production to 220 vehicles a month from 80 by early in
> 2004,
> > said John H. Mayles, vice president for military programs at the aerospace
> and
> > defense group of Armor Holdings, the parent company of O'Gara-Hess.
> >
> > It has moved all its commercial production, which includes armoring
> vehicles
> > for movie stars and other celebrities, to a different factory.
> >
>
>
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