Accelerated U.S. MRAP Production and Deployment Targeted for Extended Defense Technology International Coverage

NEW YORK, July 26 /PRNewswire/ — As Pentagon planners and Congressional leaders wrangled last week over how best to fast-track production and delivery of nearly 4,000 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles to U.S. troops in Iraq by the end of this year, Defense Technology International (DTI) magazine announced its plans for extended coverage of the MRAP program over the next three months.

The MRAP ramp-up is a tactical response to the increasingly lethal success enemy combatants in Iraq have had using roadside bombs, armor-piercing projectiles and other so-called improvised explosive devices (IEDs) against U.S. combat vehicles, particularly the Humvee. Congressional leaders have said that as many as 700 soldiers could have been saved if they had been riding in MRAPs.

DTI, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies’ AVIATION WEEK, is an integrated media business dedicated to covering the interplay of defense technology, funding, operations, programs and policies. It launched in September 2005 with DTI magazine as a bi-monthly supplement to Aviation Week & Space Technology. DTI quickly established itself with a worldwide circulation of 38,000 military, government and defense industry decision-makers, defense infrastructure opinion leaders and influencers, and this year began publishing as a monthly stand-alone magazine. In addition to the magazine, the DTI portfolio includes events and web-based products and services.

From the factory to the field, DTI’s extra MRAP reporting in its July/August, September and October issues will focus on technology’s role in the program. Coverage will include:

   — a survey of the major MRAP systems under contract and global      competitors vying for consideration   — a technical review of different armor and shaping technologies   — an assessment of Pentagon program management   — a look at manufacturing systems and challenges, including potential      roadblocks to sustaining hyper-accelerated production, and strategies      for navigating them   

In addition to magazine reports, the DTI ARES Blog will feature frequent MRAP program updates at http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense. Magazines will have bonus distribution at industry events, including September’s Defence Systems & Equipment International Exhibition (DSEi) in London, and the October Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, DC.

“The priority the DTI enterprise is placing on covering MRAP for the next three months reflects the urgency military and congressional leaders have put on this program, and to help sort out the technology, operations, logistics, program and systems integration challenges that lie ahead from the battlefield to the lowest tiers of the global supply chain,” said DTI Publisher Gregory D. Hamilton.

For more DTI news, back issues and future events, go to http://www.aviationweek.com/dti

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AVIATION WEEK, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, is the largest multimedia information and services provider to the global aviation, aerospace and defense industries, and includes the publications Aviation Week & Space Technology, Defense Technology International, Overhaul & Maintenance, Business & Commercial Aviation, ShowNews, International Aviation, Air Transport Observer, Aviation Daily, The Weekly of Business Aviation, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report and the World Aerospace Database. The group’s website, AviationWeek.com, offers the industry’s most reliable news, information, intelligence and analysis, and its Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) is the industry’s most integrated business tool for managers, business developers, buyers and technical professionals across the entire aviation and aerospace field. The group recently launched MRO Prospector, a one-of-a-kind suite of data and tools delivered over the Internet for business development and benchmarking in maintenance, repair and overhaul. AVIATION WEEK also produces 12 major conferences and exhibitions in the MRO, defense and programs sectors. Visit http://www.aviationweek.com/ for more information.

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