Demand for vehicle power increases as protection requirements go up. Two recent technology demonstrator programs, funded by the U.K. Defense Ministry and overseen by contractor Qinetiq, point the way to a quickly adaptable set of protective systems based on “plug-and-play” software architecture that will allow a rapid response to changing threats while enabling troop-carrying vehicles to generate significantly more energy to power them.

One challenge of Afghan roads is finding any that are passable—at least for large vehicles. Most of the country is connected by trails that cannot support the mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) trucks used in Iraq. France and the U.K. went into the theater with lighter, more mobile vehicles and lost people to roadside bombs. France is now introducing a more mobile, heavily protected vehicle, while a smaller protected truck is under development in the U.K.

Reviewed by Angus Batey Task Force Black: The Explosive True Story of the SAS and the Secret War in Iraq By Mark Urban Little, Brown, 2010 299 pp., £17.99 ($27.50)