October 9, 2005: The U.S. Marine Corps is buying 38 more Cougar armored vehicles, in addition to the 27 they already have. The official name of these armored trucks is JERRV (joint explosive ordnance disposal rapid response Vehicles). The U.S. Army also uses over a hundred of them. Basically, JERRV is a 12 ton truck that is hardened to survive bombs and mines. The Cougar can get engineers into combat situations where mines, explosives or any kind of obstacle, have to be cleared. The bulletproof Cougars are built using the same construction techniques pioneered by South African firms that have, over the years, delivered over 14,000 landmine resistant vehicles to the South African armed forces. The South African technology was imported into the U.S. in 1998, and has already been used in the design of vehicles used by peacekeepers in the Balkans. The Cougar comes in two versions. The four wheel one can carry ten passengers, the six wheel one can carry 16. The vehicle uses a capsule design to protect the passengers and key vehicle components mines and roadside bombs. The trucks cost about $730,000 each, fully equipped. About one percent of the attacks in Iraq are from landmines, while about a third are from roadside bombs. The Cougars have proved very popular with the troops.
