European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 15, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday August 15, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 9 is Daryl Green Jim Bramlett in civilian clothes Hopes fac s prototype armoured maintenance vehicle will fill a big Hole the army currently has in its Battlefield deficiency plan. Army Hopes vehicle gives it a Battlefield lift by Daryl e. Green Kaiserslautern Bureau Baum older West Germany a prototype armoured maintenance vehicle will make a pitch to become a permanent member of the army team during autumn forge exercises in sep tember. The purpose we re Here for is to gain some exposure for the armoured maintenance vehicle so that people understand that there is such a thing said Jim j. Bramlett a Field maintenance technician with the defense con tractor fac. The one of a kind vehicle was de signed by fac under guidelines pre scribed by the army. In wartime the am would be used to repair tracked vehicles on the Battlefield. The army now has no single vehicle that can both lift downed equipment and carry All the necessary supplies and people to per form repairs. The vehicle now is in the concept evaluation phase said maj. Paul Wil son am project officer at the combat development Branch of the army Ord Nance school at Aberdeen proving grounds my. The autumn forge Maneu vers Are a pre test with a More extensive re View planned at Hohenfels in late fall he said. The vehicle arrived in West Ger Many from Aberdeen july 25 and will spend autumn forge with the 8th inf div. After the exercise maintenance personnel from Vii corps will have an Opportunity to try it out. Soldiers will be asked to suggest modifications or improvements. The army has Long been in need of a vehicle that could survive in combat while performing the primary role of maintenance on tracked vehicles in for Ward areas said Bramlett who began designing the am while on Active duty As a chief warrant officer. It s been on the Battlefield deficiency plan for years he said. Congress has been screaming with the Gao that we re not doing our maintenance prop  each am would Cost the army about $650,000, Bramlett said. The vehicle first went on the drawing Board in the mid-1970s and was de signed to replace the my 13, an a Mored personnel Carrier that has a maintenance support role. We Don t even use the 113 in its maintenance role because it s a useless vehicle said sgt. Elijah h. Roach wheel Mechanic cob 208th support in. Plus if you take the my 13you have to take three other  the my 13 is too Small to carry All the equipment and personnel needed to repair downed vehicles on the spot Roach said and it lacks lift capability. The Only vehicle that has lift capability that can operate in the Forward area is the m88 tank recovery vehicle. Maintenance troops while preferring the new vehicle Over the my 13, did have suggestions. The whole vehicle could use More Armor Roach said. A .50- Caliper Bullet could really tear you  fac is developing a kit to add Armor to the cab of the vehicle Bram Lett said. While the m88 is called on to take vehicles to rear areas for maintenance the armoured maintenance vehicle is expected to increase chances of making repairs in the Field. With this new vehicle your chances of driving up to that tank and being Able to fix it Are 90 percent As opposed to about 10 percent now with the my 13 Bramlett said. So what we re saying is we be increased the Quantity of tanks we can pull off the Battlefield and we increased our capability to repair those that you could pull out before so the net increase is a Sav Ings of tanks to fight the  saving tanks translates into saving dollars but before the armoured maintenance vehicle can join the army team Money must be found somewhere in the Ever tightening military budget. It does t shoot does t win wars directly does t kill tanks does t kill things so you re further Down the list when you compete every year for Money Bramlett said. It is impossible to predict How Long a procurement decision will take Wilson said. In the meantime fac and the army Are using the Long wait to help Fine tune the armoured maintenance vehicle. The Money crunch is working to our advantage said master sgt. John c. Strause systems staff no at Aber Deen. Because of the length of the time that it s taking us to procure this we Are allowed to now have More input to  contributing to this report staff writer Chuck Vinch in Washington 19 killed in rebel missile attacks on afghan cities Moscow a rebels fired missiles at Kabul and two other afghan cities killing 19 people on the eve of the Halfway Point in the withdrawal of soviet troops from the country Tass reported sunday. The official news Agency also said government troops killed the head of a group called the islamic party of Afghanistan and several other insurgents in the Asmar District of the afghan province of Kunar. Twenty seven rebels were killed and an arms depot captured in the Anjil District of Herat the news Agency said. Tass did not say whether the combat operations were conducted by afghan or soviet troops who began their pullout May 15. In Behdan aka Ali Shams and chisel stun three sections of the capital Kabul three missiles killed four women and a child and wounded six people overnight Tass reported. Shelling in the residential areas of Gardez and Khost killed 14 people and wounded 20, according to the news Agency whose Dis Patch was dateline Kabul. Tass said a mosque in Gardez was destroyed and several apartment buildings there were damaged. Afghan army units killed 30 rebels in the Buri Heil District near Khost the news Agency said. Afghanistan s state run radio reported saturday that half the estimated 100,000 soviet forces in Afghani Stan had already withdrawn two Days ahead of a dead line set by a United nations peace pact. Under the Accord signed in april in Geneva half the soviet troops were to be pulled out by aug. 15 and the rest by feb. 15.the soviet Union sent troops into Afghanistan in december 1979 to prop up Afghanistan s communist government