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With funding secured and contracting processes completed, the Army is starting to move ever-larger quantities of both armoring kits and newly built armored Humvees into Iraq, Army officials said.

There are now more than 2,000 up-armored Humvees “in theater” in Southwest Asia, which includes Afghanistan and Iraq, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker told the House Armed Services Committee in testimony on Wednesday...

Humvee maker American Motors General is building a new factory specifically for up-armored Humvees that is nearly completed, Tallman said.

By spring, the manufacturer will be producing at “the maximum rate of 220” armored Humvees per month, he said.

In addition to new vehicles, the Army also has contracts to purchase 6,000 armor kits that can be installed by soldier mechanics in Iraq, Tallman said.

The kits are destined to upgrade not only many of the 8,000 conventional Humvees now in Iraq, but other vehicles as well, such as heavy transports and trucks used in convoy operations, he said.

The armor kits don’t substitute for a fully armored vehicle, Tallman said, “but it’s something we can do right now.”