The Ceradyne BULL is an

armored personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Ac ...

with a v-shaped hull designed in a combined effort between

Ceradyne Ceradyne, Incorporated is a wholly owned subsidiary of the British company, Avon Rubber. Ceradyne, Inc. is a manufacturer of advanced ceramic systems and components and involved in many technical industries including nuclear power, oil and gas, sol ...

, Ideal Innovations Inc (I-3), and

Oshkosh Corporation Oshkosh Corporation, formerly Oshkosh Truck, is an American industrial company that designs and builds specialty trucks, military vehicles, truck bodies, airport fire apparatus, and access equipment. The corporation also owns Pierce Manufac ...

in response to the MRAP II competition. The name Ceradyne Bull is a misnomer; "The Bull" is actually a trade-mark of Ideal Innovations, Inc. (I-3). The MRAP II competition was announced in 2007 when it became clear that

explosively formed penetrator An explosively formed penetrator (EFP), also known as an explosively formed projectile (EFP), a self-forging warhead, or a self-forging fragment, is the product of a shaped charge designed to penetrate armor effectively. As the name suggests, the ...

(EFP) type of

roadside bomb An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mechan ...

attacks were increasing in Iraq and the current generation MRAP vehicles could not stop all of them without add-on armor kits. In 2005 Ideal Innovations' President, Robert Kocher, had worked with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory to find an EFP solution, patented it, and then found Ceradyne as a partner in 2006 to produce an armored cab out of it. The U.S. Army's Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center at the

Rock Island Arsenal The Rock Island Arsenal comprises , located on Arsenal Island, originally known as Rock Island, on the Mississippi River between the cities of Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois. It lies within the state of Illinois. Rock Island ...

provides the EFP-stopping outer layers of the armor. Kocher had previously been involved in the 1991-93 development of the up-armored Humvee and was part of the team that developed the boron carbide armor now used in

Interceptor body armor The Interceptor Multi-Threat Body Armor System (IBA) is a bullet-resistant body armor system that was used by the United States Armed Forces during the 2000s, with some limited usage into the mid-2010s. IBA and its design replaced the older stan ...

vests that Ceradyne produces. In 2007 Oshkosh was selected to provide its

Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement The Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) is a series of vehicles used by the U.S. Marines. The first MTVRs were delivered in late 1999. The MTVR is the equivalent of the U.S. Army’s Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV); the Marines ...

(MTVR) chassis, with their TAK-4 independent suspension system and Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) computer hardware, for the vehicles I3 and Ceradyne intended to enter in the MRAP II competition. Two prototypes were made within 50 days. Team Bull members at Ceradyne, together with almost three dozen employees from I3 and Oshkosh, immediately began working round-the-clock shifts. Engineers rarely left the site, with team members instead grabbing a couple of hours of sleep outside in their cars for refreshment. A six-person version and a ten-person version were delivered to the

Aberdeen Proving Grounds 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 at ...

for testing. The EFP simulations were so successful that the military quickly adapted the armor into the Frag kit 6 armor upgrade kits for the Humvee and other MRAP vehicles. Senators Carl Levin (D-Mich) and Joseph Biden (D-Del) took up Bull’s cause. Levin wrote a letter to

Defense Secretary The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclosure 2: a The ...

Gates Gates is the plural of gate, a point of entry to a space which is enclosed by walls. It may also refer to: People * Gates (surname), various people with the last name * Gates Brown (1939-2013), American Major League Baseball player * Gates McFadde ...

promoting the vehicle and Biden asked, during a

Senate Foreign Relations Committee The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for overseeing and funding foreign aid p ...

event, why the military hadn’t ordered the vehicle. After testing the initial two prototypes, the military awarded the partnership a $18.1 million contract to produce six more Bull vehicles of the six person variant by the first quarter of 2008 for further evaluation. While eight vehicles entered the MRAP II competition, The Bull was one of only two vehicles to receive a contract from it. The other was an uparmored BAE Caiman. It has been reported that the complete vehicle weighs around 40,000 lbs and costs about $500,000 (three times more than a

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 ...

).
/ref> The Bull prototypes had two side hatches at the front (meeting MRAP II specs), used mainly for emergency exits. This design gave more side protection than larger traditional doors. The Bull had no gun ports, but these could be added in the final production model.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bull (Armored Personnel Carrier) Wheeled armoured fighting vehicles Oshkosh vehicles