Billions of dollars are being thrown at the IED (roadside
bomb) problem in Iraq. This means that a lot of ideas that would, in normal
times, never get money, now do. Some are strange, and useless, and diligent
muckrakers will eventually get to them. But some are pretty interesting, and
potentially useful. One of them is the ULTRA AP, a heavily modified Ford F-350
pickup. The 350 (and its cousin, the 250) are favorites with police and armed
forces in many nations. The Afghan army recently bought 5,000 modified (for
harsh cross country terrain) F-350s for their army. The ULTRA AP (for Armored
Patrol) was designed to reflect some of the ideas coming out of Iraq, on how to
design a more effective ?armored truck? for combat patrols in an area where you
are likely to encounter mines, roadside bombs and ambushes. The F-350 was
selected because it is a mature, proven design that provides a good starting
point. The Office of Naval Research (which does stuff for the marines), turned
the Georgia Tech Research Institute (which does a lot of defense work, and is
considered the ?MIT of the South?) loose on the project.

The first mod was the use the light-weight armor that was
being used by military trucks in Iraq. This included bullet and blast proof
glass. The next mod was more interesting, and based on suggestions from the
troops. The seating was changed from four people sitting two by two, to a
diamond, one by two by one, arrangement. This meant replacing the current body
of the 350 with a new one that made the ULTRA AP look more like an armored car.
But this did two important things. It got the passengers farther away from the
wheels, which are the things that go over mines and take much of the blast.
Second, it put the four passengers in positions troops consider more useful.
The driver is in front, taking care of driving. The two passengers behind the
driver face the left and right. The fourth passenger faces the rear. This way,
the passengers are always giving the vehicle a view of potential threats coming
from any direction. The passenger compartment is actually a ?blast bucket,?
with armor beneath the passengers that deflects much of the blast away. The
designers also took advantage of the computer networks that are now standard in
motor vehicles, and provided the driver with more control over maneuvering the
vehicle on roads, and cross country.

The Office of Naval Research will test the ULTRA AP to see
if the design concepts are worth incorporating into future military vehicles.
Some more may be built so that they can be tested with mines and roadside bombs
as well.