The military heartland of the United Stated of America, the Pentagon has announced that, the U.S troops stationed in Afghanistan will now be more secure, thanks to the all new lighter and more armored all terrain vehicles, known as M-ATV, that have already arrived in Afghanistan. The all new ATVs have been dubbed as “life savers”. The predecessors to the new life savers were mine resistant and heavily armored, yet they proved to be too cumbersome and hence, these new vehicles have designed, keeping in mind the rugged terrain of Afghanistan.

According to Ashton Carter (Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics),

“The terrain in Afghanistan is different from Iraq. It’s more uneven, the roads are difficult to traverse. That’s why we’ve had to create an all-terrain version.”

The new ATV program saw rapid progress as compared to other defense programs and have been airlifted to Afghanistan on an urgent basis, so as to provide adequate safe operational conditions for the U.S troops and reduce casualties caused by the roadside IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices). So far, 41 of these all new combat vehicles have already arrived in Afghanistan and have been deployed with 5000 additional units slated to be delivered by March 2010.

The M-ATV is considerably lighter than the ones it is replacing with total weight amounting to 25,000 pounds as against the standard armored M-RAP that stood at 40,000 pounds. Along with weight reduction, the ATVs are also composed of independent suspension, giving the vehicle more agility. The M-ATV has a seating capacity of five, including the gunner.

Via Space War.