WASHINGTON — Armored trucks designed to protect troops from roadside bombs and adapted to conditions in Afghanistan have saved more than 2,000 American lives there, far fewer than the Pentagon estimated last year, according to data released to USA Today.

The Pentagon began speeding Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007 to help counter insurgents’ weapon of choice, the improvised explosive device (IED). IEDs remain the top killer of U.S. troops. Makeshift bombs account for more than 50 percent of U.S. troop deaths, according to the Pentagon.

Last year, the military estimated that MRAPs had saved the lives of as many as 40,000 servicemembers. A senior Defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive data, said last week that that figure had been overstated.

The Pentagon has spent $45 billion on MRAPs since 2007, a price tag criticized recently in an article in Foreign Affairs, the magazine published by the Council on Foreign Relations. The trucks do not perform significantly better than Humvees, the cheaper vehicle they replaced, according to the article’s authors, who based their findings on Pentagon data.Click here to read more

U.S. Army soldiers assigned to the 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team check returning Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles following a combat patrol. Camp Spann is part of International Security Assistance Force, Regional Command North, located in Baghlan province.Jonathan Chandler/Courtesy U.S. Navy Photo by Jonathan Chandler/Courtesy U.S. Navy