Voice of America Reports on the M-ATV

Voice of America reports that the troops like the m-ATV a lot, but adds that some of its design features create maintenance issues:



“Staff Sergeant Richard Green, an 82nd Airborne Division mechanic, found this out first-hand when he accidentally damaged his unit’s first M-ATV. “There’s a nut on the inside of the oil pan. The bolt came out. But the nut was not welded corectly to the oil pan, so the nut fell off. The bolt comes out and there was no way to hold the oil in the pan. So we had to take the engine pack out and replace it,” he said…. The Pentagon transports them by air in order to meet the high demand, adding a 10-percent premium to the vehicle’s cost…. On a 747 freighter, there are just centimeters of clearance between the M-ATVs and the plane’s sides. In combat, the frontline soldiers don’t care about the M-ATV’s logistical burden. They only care that it’s safer and better-protected than other vehicles.”