[Shadow_Group] Valley firm disputes Rumsfeld, is ready to supply Army armor - AZ

[shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca]

Valley firm disputes Rumsfeld, is ready to supply Army
armor 

Joseph A. Reaves
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 10, 2004 12:00 AM 

FROM:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1210armor10.html<http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1210armor10.html>
A Valley firm that provides critical armor for
military vehicles in Iraq is operating at only
half-capacity despite complaints from soldiers who say
they are being sent into combat without adequate
protection.

"We've been telling the Pentagon for months that we
have the capacity to double our production," said
former U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon, a consultant for
ArmorWorks of Tempe.

"We're ready, and we haven't heard a thing." 

The issue of adequate armor protection for military
vehicles in Iraq became front-page news this week when
a National Guard soldier from Tennessee stood up at a
town hall meeting in Kuwait and confronted Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. 

"Why do we soldiers have to dig through local
landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised
ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles, and why
don't we have those resources readily available to
us?" Army Spc. Thomas Wilson asked the secretary. 

Wilson's surprisingly blunt question drew applause
from fellow soldiers, who are preparing to ship out
from Kuwait to Iraq.

Rumsfeld said he spoke with a general at the Pentagon
before traveling to Kuwait and was told the military
was doing its best to provide troops the resources
they need.

"It's essentially a matter of physics," he said. "It
isn't a matter of money. It isn't a matter on the part
of the Army of desire. It's a matter of production and
capability of doing it."

Salmon said that simply isn't true, at least in the
case of ArmorWorks, which has a $30 million contract
to provide composite armor kits that are fitted onto
Humvee vehicles in three hours by soldiers in the
field.

"The Pentagon right now, in its postdebacle spin, is
trying to convince everyone that contractors are
operating at peak capacity," Salmon told The Arizona
Republic. "In our case it's flat-out not accurate."

Salmon, a conservative Republican who narrowly lost
the 2002 governor's race, has been a paid consultant
for ArmorWorks for more than a year. 

He said the firm is producing about 300 armor kits a
month but easily can ship twice that many.

The $30 million contract the Pentagon awarded
ArmorWorks in September called for the Tempe factory
to produce 1,500 armor kits by January. Salmon said
1,200 already have been shipped, but ArmorWorks hasn't
been told whether it will be offered a new contract.

"We haven't been told anything about what's going on,"
he said.

"I think a lot of this is the right hand doesn't know
what the left is doing."

The Department of Defense issued several news releases
on its Web site Thursday in the wake of Rumsfeld's
remarks and the criticism from the soldiers in Kuwait.

"The issue Specialist Wilson raised at the town hall
meeting in Kuwait is important," one release read.
"This department takes the matter seriously and is
addressing it aggressively."

Another release said the military is "producing
roughly 450 up-armored Humvees every month and sending
them to units in Iraq.

Eric Ruff, a Defense Department spokesman, said all
but about 4,000 of the 19,000 Humvees being used by
the U.S. Central Command in Iraq are "up-armored or
have been modified at the units level with add-on
armor kits" like the ones produced by ArmorWorks.

Those that aren't armored yet are confined to use
inside military compounds, according to the Pentagon. 

Salmon, however, pointed out that just six weeks ago,
members of an Army Reserve quartermaster company
refused to go on a supply mission because they said
their equipment was inadequate.

The kits that ArmorWorks provides for the military are
made of composite ceramic rather than steel, which has
been the traditional protective plating for military
vehicles since World War I.

"The steel weighs two-thirds more than our stuff,"
Salmon said. "It exceeds the payload capacity on the
vehicles. The vehicles end up breaking down or losing
their maneuverability."

In addition, soldiers have noted the ceramic composite
tends to absorb shrapnel or deflect it, while steel
armor often creates even more deadly metal shards.

Salmon said he joined ArmorWorks amid an earlier
controversy when family members of soldiers in Iraq
were coming to the company to buy personal body army
because the military wasn't able to provide adequate
supplies.

"Unfortunately, this is deja vu all over again, isn't
it," Salmon said.

Reach the reporter at
joseph.reaves at arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8125.



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