Flying MRAPs?:

The Pentagon wants Congress to pony up some $750 million to airlift the new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles to US forces in Iraq, reports Tom Vanden Brook of USA Today. Ferrying MRAPs—up to three—on an Air Force C-17 takes only 13 hours rather than the weeks needed via ship. Ship transport would be cheaper, of course, and as USA Today notes, at least one defense analyst believes the Administration missed the boat, thinking the less protective Humvees would suffice for what they hoped would be a shorter war. Congress has yet to act on the full $5.3 billion MRAP emergency funding request.