Iraqi Kurdish entrepreneurs now US military suppliers

[unixronin]

Humvees attached to the US 4th Infantry Division are being retrofitted with improvised armor by a Kurdish-owned metalworking shop in Kirkuk.  The up-armored Humvees receive 8mm steel rear compartment "tubs" and doors that are proof against machinegun fire and roadside bombs.

Comments

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

I'm not quite sure what they mean by "machine gun" fire. 8mm worth of steel won't stop 7.62x54R, or .308 or even 8mm Turkish. Heck, I have some EP .223 that will go through that much steel.

Now, it'll certainly slow it down, but once the insurgents get wind of the upgrades, they'll just start making the IEDs bigger. The HMMWVs have to be able to move, still, so it's a lot easier to build a bigger bomb than it is to add more armor to stop it.

-Ogre

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Very true, of course. Remember, this is an *additional* 8mm of steel in addition to the existing skin. And while I have no doubt it wouldn't stop .308 AP, let alone 14.5mm fire from a KPV, I'm sure it'll splash 7.62x39mm ball from AKMs and PKMs all day. And yeah, they can build bigger bombs, but bigger bombs take longer to assemble and more work to conceal.

The important thing is, the troops using these humvees are confident that the new armor is sufficient to protect them against the threats they're coming up against, and when you really come down to it, they're the guys on the ground. We can second-guess them from here all week.

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

That's true. I suppose we'll find out how well it worked.

-Ogre