The Armor Survivability Kit (ASK) is an armor kit developed by the
U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in 2003 to protect vehicles like the
Humvee
The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV; colloquial: Humvee) is a family of light, four-wheel drive, military trucks and utility vehicles produced by AM General. It has largely supplanted the roles previously performed by the ...
from small arms, explosive device fragments, and
rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs).
Armor
The Armor Survivability Kit consisted of armored steel doors with bullet-proof glass, protective armored plating, and a ballistic windshield and came in either a two-door kit variant (weighing 900 pounds/409 kilograms) or a four-door kit variant (weighing 1,300 pounds/590 kilograms).
History
The ASK was first produced in response to the lack of sufficient armor protecting Humvee vehicles and supply trucks during the
war in Iraq
This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Iraq and its predecessor states.
Other armed conflicts involving Iraq
* Wars during Mandatory Iraq
** Ikhwan raid on South Iraq 1921
* Smaller conflicts, revolutions, coups and periphery confli ...
and the rising number of deaths caused by
improvised explosive devices (IEDs), sniper fire, and
rocket-propelled grenade (RPGs).
The Humvee was not designed for active combat and as early as 1996 people inside the Pentagon had called for the army to develop a vehicle to protect soldiers.
Near the beginning of the
Iraq war
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror
, image ...
in 2003, the U.S. forces found themselves increasingly vulnerable to guerrilla attacks from roadside bombs and RPGs when driving in Humvees.
By February 2004, more than 80 soldiers were killed by roadside bombs since the start of the war; soldiers improved armor but even that was not sufficient.
U.S. troops had to rely on
improvised vehicle armour
Improvised vehicle armour is protective materials added to a mobile platform such as a car, truck, or tank in an irregular and extemporized fashion, using available materials. Typically, improvised armour is added in the field and it was not or ...
and many soldiers resorted to jury-rigging scrap metal onto the doors of unprotected Humvees.
[ At the same time ]military contractor
The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and ...
s in Iraq had protected vehicles like the Rhino Runner and the M1117
The M1117 Guardian, also denoted Armored Security Vehicle (''ASV''), is an internal security vehicle based on the V-100 and V-150 Commando series of armored cars. It was developed in the late 1990s for service with the United States' Military ...
, which had not been approved for procurement.[ The issue came to public attention when troops preparing to deploy to Iraq challenged Donald Rumsfeld as to why they had to resort to "hillbilly armor" scrounged from junk yards to protect themselves.]
In response to the demand, Central Command’s Combined Joint Task Force 7
Combined Joint Task Force 7 was the interim military formation that directed the U.S. effort in Iraq between June 2003 and May 2004. It replaced the Coalition Forces Land Component Command on 14 June 2003. CFLCC was the land forces component of ...
requested the Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) and ARL to develop a temporary armor kit to install onto unprotected Humvees until more armored vehicles could be shipped to Iraq. Within a week, the engineering team led by Michael J. Zoltoski created the designs for the ASK, which integrated ballistic metals, glass, and ceramics as well as polymers in order to withstand 7.62mm machine gun fire and IEDs.
In October 2003, less than 6 weeks after the initial design was created, 40 ASK prototypes were produced and field-tested at Aberdeen Proving Ground
Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) (sometimes erroneously called Aberdeen Proving ''Grounds'') is a U.S. Army facility located adjacent to Aberdeen, Harford County, Maryland, United States. More than 7,500 civilians and 5,000 military personnel work a ...
s in Maryland, after which they were ready to be shipped to Iraq along with two installers. By March 2004, 1,924 kits were shipped to Iraq and 1,636 kits were installed onto Humvee vehicles. That year, the Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
rewarded ARL with an innovation award for the development of the ASK. By January 2005, more than 9,400 kits were reportedly delivered to soldiers in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
The ASK also served as a precursor to the development of the Fragmentary Armor or Frag Kits for armored vehicles in 2004.
While the introduction of ASKs onto unprotected Humvees did offer passengers more protection, other issues with the vehicle began to appear. The armor was still not sufficient to protect passengers from IEDs, which by that time were destroying even heavily armored vehicles.[ Also, due to the hot summer temperature in Iraq, occupants began to develop heat-related illnesses due to the heat buildup inside the vehicle.] To resolve this problem, an air-conditioning system was installed inside many of the Humvees fitted with the ASKs. In addition, the additional weight brought on by the ASKs and other heavy armor plating increased the likelihood of the vehicle rolling over during serious accidents, which were sometimes fatal. From March 2003 through November 2005, an analysis of the U.S. Army’s ground-accident database found that 60 of the 85 soldiers who died in Humvee accidents in Iraq were killed when the vehicle rolled.
References
{{reflist
Explosion protection
Vehicle armour