Posted on 12/18/2003 11:03:35 AM PST by doug from upland
U.S. senator tours Fairfield armoring company
By Jen Roppel
FAIRFIELD — The mangled remnants of an armored Humvee struck by a land mine told a tale of survival — and to U.S. Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio), it illustrated the need to protect America’s troops abroad.
Voinovich on Thursday morning toured the world headquarters of O’Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt Armoring Co., where he walked through the 100,000-square-foot facility to take a hands-on look at how the company builds the military’s Up-Armored HMMWV (High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle.)
Voinovich asked many questions of tour guide Ronald Carson, the plant’s production and fabrication manager. Wearing safety goggles, he looked inside vehicles, felt the armor plating, raised and lowered the ballistic glass window on the door, and examined its door lock mechanism.
Outside the facility, Voinovich paused in front of a damaged Humvee Carson said was hit by a land mine on Jan. 15 in Afghanistan.
Three soldiers were inside the vehicle when a land mine detonation shot the Humvee 10 feet in the air, Carson said. Two soldiers sustained burst eardrums in the explosion and the third suffered facial lacerations from his weapon, he said. All survived.
“It was impervious to the land mines,” said Voinovich after hearing the vehicle’s history.
Fifteen soldiers’ lives have been saved in Afghanistan by the Up-Armored Humvee, said an O’Gara official. The Fairfield-based company has been the sole provider of armor for the vehicle since 1993.
At year’s end, O’Gara will have completed 800 armored Humvees for the military in 2003, said John Mayles, vice president of military programs.
And that number may be higher.
Voinovich said his tour was part of a request for $25 million in the defense appropriations bill to expand the military’s fleet of Up-Armored Humvees while providing them to the Army National Guard and Army Reserves.
“I’m really concerned about out troops overseas,” Voinovich said. “We’re going to be in Iraq a long time.”
Pointing to his blue tie dotted with American flags with yellow ribbons, Voinovich said he wears it to show his support for the armed forces.
“These are real people, men and women, who are in harm’s way,” he said.
Voinovich said the government needs to better equip and protect its military. If he were a soldier, Voinovich said, knowing he was protected by such a vehicle would be of great comfort.
The Up-Armored Humvees cost $160,000 to $180,000 each, said Carson, who estimates there are about 500 in Iraq. Each starts with a frame shipped to O’Gara from AM General Co. in Indiana. The military model, Carson said, isn’t sold to civilians.
The body of the vehicle is made up of 16-gauge aluminum, Carson said. From start to finish, each vehicle takes five days to complete. O’Gara turns out four a day, he said.
When finished, the Up-Armored Humvee seats up to three; its gross vehicle weight is more than 12,000 pounds. The M114 and M116 Up-Armored Humvee are equipped with 7.62 mm armor piercing protection, which means it can withstand firing from assault rifles such as the AK-47 and M16, Carson said.
The vehicles also provide overhead protection against 155 mm airbursts from cannon firings and crew compartment protection from land mine blasts, Carson said.
The M116 has an additional underbody protection from the M67 grenade, according to O’Gara.
In addition to the Humvee inspected by Voinovich, O’Gara has three other Up-Armored Humvees from Afghanistan and one more from Bosnia.
One is headed to be on display in an Army museum, Carson said.
The others will be subject to scrutiny.
“We’ll tear them apart and study them” to see how O’Gara can improve them, Carson said.
“The men and women who work here take a lot of pride in their work,” he said.
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