Army to Expand Array of Armored Vehicles in Iraq

By Sandra I. Erwin

Amid a wave of violence in Iraq, U.S. military commanders there are requesting additional armored vehicles, particularly large ones that can transport a dozen or more passengers. The Army has shipped more than 10,000 armored Humvees to Iraq, but these only can fit four passengers. To move larger numbers of troops, commanders have limited options. One is a gun-truck armor kit that is installed on 5-ton vehicles, with machine guns mounted around the cargo box. The gun-truck kit was dubbed "Hunter Box" after Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who earmarked funds for the project. Researchers at California's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory designed the kit. To date, some 31 trucks have been outfitted with the armor protection kits and added to U.S. convoys.
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Nashville courthouse built with little room to spare

By Candy McCampbell

The Beverly Briley Courthouse, a $39.2 million building that will house Nashville's criminal courts, has contractors in a tight spot. The building covers about 41,600 sq. ft. of a 54,000-sq.-ft. site and is surrounded by a major power substation, a building and two streets. "The only way we can get precast up and over it is with a large crane," said Chris Winfield, assistant project manager for subcontractor Gate Precast Co. of Ashland City, Tenn. The crane is situated on the east side of the job and must lift the precast - some of which weighs nearly 16 tons - to the building's north side.
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A Chicken in every Pot and a Safe Room in every Home

By Waco Composites

In the recent blockbuster movie, "Panic Room," Jodie Foster and her teenage daughter cower in a high-tech bunker off the bedroom of her New York multi-story apartment while a trio of robbers enters downstairs. The movie apparently struck a chord with audiences, as it became the biggest Easter weekend opening in history, grossing a record $30 million. Panic rooms, more commonly known as safe rooms, are spaces inside a home or business where people seek refuge in times of perceived or imminent danger.
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