A military vehicle rushed to combat to help protect troops from roadside bombs, with the help of a local manufacturing facility, has shown a flaw of its high-sitting, heavily armored design.

According to the Associated Press, rollovers of the Mine-Resistant, Ambush-Protected vehicle have killed five U.S. military service members in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The rollovers caused the military to issue a warning to troops to be careful when riding and to offer safety guidelines.

"This ain't your father's

Oldsmobile," says the June edition of "Safety Corner," an internal newsletter published by the Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned in Quantico, Va.

BAE Systems in West Manchester Township, the local manufacturer, said its parent company has been involved in conversations with the military to see whether there are remedies to the rollover issues, a spokeswoman said Thursday.

The local BAE facility makes the RG-33 version of the vehicle, which has not been involved in a documented fatal rollover.

BAE manufactures the Caiman model elsewhere and has a part in the manufacturing of the RG-31, which has a lead producer of General Dynamics. Both vehicles have been involved in fatal rollovers.

Kelly Golden, spokeswoman for BAE, said the three models have similar design features that make them prone to rollover: A high center of gravity and a lot of armor plates protecting troops, making the vehicle top-heavy.

Add that feature to poor roads found in war zones, and rollovers can result.

"The roads are not what we're used to in the U.S.," Golden said.

Although she said BAE is talking with the military about rollovers, she could not comment further about the conversations, or what if any design changes the conversations could bring about.

Cheryl Irwin, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Defense, said Thursday she could not immediately comment about

any conversations with suppliers about rollovers.

But she said the military was constantly evaluating ways to keep troops in the field safer.

There have been at least 66 MRAP-related accidents between November and June, according to Defense Department statistics. Nearly 40 of those involved a rollover caused by bad roads, weak bridges or driver error.

"We're certainly concerned," said Brig. Gen. Michael Brogan, the Marine Corps officer who manages the MRAP program.

Basically, the lifesaving geometry has a cost, he said.

"What you're giving up when you do that is the low center of gravity that provides you the sure-footedness," Brogan told the AP.

The most recent reported deaths occurred June 29, when three Green Berets drowned when their vehicle rolled into a canal in southern Afghanistan.

The accident is under investigation.

The first fatal accident occurred April 23 in Iraq when a crew of six soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division was traveling over an irrigation canal in a Caiman, a 9-foot-tall, 19-ton MRAP made by BAE Systems in Sealy, Texas, when it rolled into the canal.

Pfc. John T. Bishop and 1st Lt. Timothy W. Cunningham died.

Bishop's father, John W. Bishop, said Army officials told him troops who rushed to the scene desperately tried to pry off the inch-thick windshield and pull open the unpinned armor door. They couldn't break inside.

"The manufacturers should put more thought into means of escape in case of an accident," said Bishop, who lives in northern Michigan.

Still, in light of the vehicle's success in preventing IED-related deaths, support for the vehicle remains.

"If I was going from point A to point B, put me in an MRAP," said Dakota Wood, a retired Marine Corps officer and a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington.

"Everybody you talk to who has been in a convoy and hit by a blast doesn't want to be in a Humvee because of the impact," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

bburkey@ydr.com; 771-2035

BAE SYSTEMS GLANCE

Where: BAE Systems Ground Systems in West Manchester Township.

What: It is one of the leading manufacturing sites of BAE Systems Ground Systems, a division of BAE Systems North America, the American branch of British defense firm BAE Systems.

Why York County? The facility's address was the long-time home of United Defense, which BAE Systems bought about two and a half years ago.

What does it make? The short answer is everything but tanks. The longer answer is MRAPs, Bradley fighting vehicles, self-propelled howitzers (different from tanks), Hercules towing vehicles and other armored vehicles.

Most high-profile product: Currently that award goes to the Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected vehicle. Taking heavily from a South African design that uses a V-shaped hull to deflect bomb blasts, the vehicle is credited with protecting and saving the lives of troops in Iraq from improvised explosive devices.

Job growth: About the time United Defense was bought by BAE Systems, the West Manchester Township site employed about 900 people. By the time the latest expansion is finished, it will employ about 2,200. It employs about 2,000 people currently.