MRAP REVISITED. This is not surprising.

New military vehicles that are supposed to better protect troops from roadside explosions in Iraq aren’t strong enough to withstand the latest type of bombs used by insurgents, according to Pentagon documents and military officials.

As a result, the vehicles need more armor added to them, according to a January Marine Corps document provided to USA TODAY. The Pentagon faced the same problem with its Humvees at the beginning of the war.

Explosively Formed Penetrators are, of course, far less expensive than Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles. The enemy will always react to new tactics, strategies, and weapons with its own innovations, and there’s good reason to believe that small, experienced insurgent groups can out-innovate the colossal bureaucracy that is the U.S. defense establishment.

–Robert Farley

Robert Farley is an assistant professor at the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, University of Kentucky. He contributes to the blogs Lawyers, Guns, and Money and TAPPED.