re: #187 Political Atheist

Well just my humble opinion, but the real military can damn well afford to store their own tools. Mothball ‘em. Heaven knows what we paid and now they just give them away. As if Banning needs it more than Kabul. WTF?

The MRAP is not a police vehicle. It’s a military vehicle designed for a specific threat. Buried bombs. All SWAT needs is ordinary armored trucks like what we see Brinks or FedEx use. That’s 5 MPG, too much weight for streets and high maintenance costs forever. LAPD had a Bradley. Guess what it’s used for now? It’s a relic. A reminder of a bad idea on display at the police museum.

SWAT vehicles are getting less like Brinks trucks and more like MRAPs anyways. The results of IED attacks against older armored vehicles have been analyzed and newer designs have incorporated the lessons learned. War stimulates technological change and in this case that change involves improved blast protection.

Moreover, in cases of a suspected IED or even for a meth lab an MRAP’s blast protection might be the difference between life and death.