Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The increasing power and effectiveness of roadside bombs in Afghanistan has spurred the U.S. military to reassess its defenses even as it rushes more blast-resistant vehicles to the region.

October was the deadliest month of the Afghan campaign for the U.S., with 59 troops killed. Seven died Oct. 27 when their armored vehicle was hit by a 1,000-pound bomb made of fertilizer, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said today.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates met at the Pentagon late today with military officials involved in buying fortified vehicles, developing anti-bomb technologies and running aerial reconnaissance to spot militants laying bombs, Morrell told reporters. Representatives from the U.S. Central Command and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization also attended, he said.

“We need to be attacking this problem from 360 degrees,” Morrell said. “By watching the roads, by watching for patterns of life, by mapping those patterns, by developing intelligence that allows us to penetrate the networks and take them down.”

“There’s not an armored vehicle you could build that would likely protect you against a 1,000-pound fertilizer bomb,” he said.

The U.S. is starting a program in southern Afghanistan to buy from farmers excess fertilizer that could be used to make bombs, Morrell said.

Blast-Proof Trucks

Another response to the problem, Morrell said, is to accelerate delivery of new fortified off-road trucks made by Oshkosh Corp., which is based in the Wisconsin town of the same name.

Oshkosh committed to doubling to 1,000 its monthly production of new blast-proof, all-terrain trucks that will allow the U.S. military to accelerate training on the vehicles and keep more troops in combat areas, according to the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer.

The first seven of these vehicles were shipped early last month to Afghanistan, three months after Oshkosh won the $1.06 billion contract to build them. Gates approved increasing assembly from 500 vehicles a month now, and Oshkosh appears able to do so, Ashton Carter, undersecretary for logistics and acquisition, said in an Oct. 2 interview.

Gates plans to visit the Oshkosh plant next week to thank workers, Morrell said.

U.S. deaths from roadside bombs through Sept. 30 numbered 139, compared with 78 in all of 2008, according to Pentagon statistics. U.S. troops wounded from roadside bombs jumped to 760 through Sept. 30, almost twice the number in all last year.

The number of U.K. troops killed by roadside bombs increased to 56 through Sept. 30, compared with 29 in 2008; the number U.K. troops wounded more than doubled to 261 through Sept. 30 this year from 129 in all of last year, according to Pentagon statistics.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 4, 2009 17:11 EST