Defense News:

The U.S. Army has asked the Pentagon to approve a plan to increase Stryker vehicles’ survivability by adding a double V-shaped hull, Lt. Gen. Robert Lennox, deputy chief of staff for Army programs, told members of the House Armed Services air and land forces subcommittee March 10…

For producing a brigade combat team’s worth of Stryker vehicles with the double V hull, including support vehicles, the Army estimates it will cost $800 million, according to the memo. The Army anticipates purchasing approximately 450 vehicles to support Afghanistan theater needs. This represents a change to vehicles already on order, the memo said.

Initial testing last fall showed that a double-hull Stryker had the equivalent survivability of an MRAP 2. Existing Strykers could not be modified.

Afghan children gather around a M1128 Stryker Mobile Gun System at the Maiwand District in Hutal, Afghanistan, Dec. 12.

Afghan national policemen pass out candy while standing on a M1128 Stryker Mobile Gun System to children at the Maiwand District in Hutal, Afghanistan, Dec. 12.

More photos at DVIDS.

Meanwhile, the Army should have all the Strykers painted desert tan in time to deploy them to a forest somewhere.

Army to phase in tan-colored Stryker vehicles

More than six years after sending the first Stryker armored vehicles into desert combat, the Army has decided that it’s probably a good idea to start painting them tan so they will blend in with the environments in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Safeguarding soldiers is the primary purpose for this color change,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Peter Butts, commander of the 1st Battalion, 401st Army Field Support Brigade, who announced the change in a news release from Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar, earlier this month. “Strykers will blend into surroundings better. They’re less likely to stand out like silhouettes.”

Since 2003, Stryker units deploying to Iraq have done so with their vehicles painted in deep green, while most other units deployed with tan vehicles.

I’ve often wondered about this, but even now no meaningful reason for the delay is to be found. Given the red tape this probably had to go through, I guess we should consider it lucky that the vehicle itself wasn’t cleared to be painted tan but the slat armor had to stay green.

Something that just seems to make this worse is that now, even though the official decision to go desert tan has been made, it can only be done when the Strykers are in “authorized facilities” in Qatar. No immediate changes for deployed units unless their vehicles are sent back for repair.

Here are some photos of the new colors from earlier this month:

Dar Barker, a General Dynamics Land Systems retrofit chief from Puyallup, Wa., directs an armored combat vehicle outside the Stryker battle damage repair facility at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar, Oct. 5. The Stryker infantry carrier vehicle had been restored after deterioration during enemy engagement in Iraq. It's the first vehicle to adopt a new desert tan color in Southwest Asia, in preparation for a planned phase out of the Stryker's current deep green color. Photo by Dustin Senger

A Stryker armored combat vehicle circles around the Stryker battle damage repair facility at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar, Oct. 5. The Stryker infantry carrier vehicle had been restored after deterioration during enemy engagement in Iraq. It's the first vehicle to adopt a new desert tan color in Southwest Asia, in preparation for a planned phase out of the Stryker's current deep green color. Photo by Dustin Senger

Jagadish Hajam, an auto body repairman and painter from Nepal, applies a coat of Tan 686A, a paint meant for desert camouflage, on the wheels of a Stryker armored combat vehicle inside a booth at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar, Oct. 3. It's the first vehicle to adopt the new desert tan color in Southwest Asia, in preparation for a planned phase out of the Stryker's current deep green color. Photo by Dustin Senger

More photos at DVIDS.

U.S. Army Pfc. Kevin B. Mettler (front), 22, and Pvt. Jason R. Pompa (rear), 26, mortar gunners for Mortar Platoon, L Troop of the 4th Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment based in Vilseck, Germany, cover their ears as a long-range training round is fired out of a 120 mm mortar which has a maximum range of 6,800 meters. The training rounds have cartridges similar to 12-gauge shotgun shells at the top of each round that detonates a white flash upon impact instead of sending out shrapnel as a live mortar would. Photo by Sgt. Marla Keown

2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment Participates in Joint Task Force-East Training

Soldiers from the 2nd SCR have been rotating every three weeks to Romania and Bulgaria since the second week of August and will continue through the end of October. The combined training facilitated by exercise JTF-East is an integral part of the overall goal which is to increase regional security cooperation, build interoperability capabilities and develop personal and professional relationships.

Roadside bombs, the common killer of American service members in Iraq, appear to be weaker and less sophisticated than before.

MRAPs, new tactics, and reduced levels of violence could all help explain fewer IEDs or fewer casualties from IEDs, but don’t “weaker and less sophisticated” IEDs probably point to either disrupted bomb making or dead expert bomb makers?

Bravo Company arrived in Afghanistan with 24 Strykers, the first of the eight-wheeled combat vehicles outfitted with high-tech communications and surveillance gear to arrive in Afghanistan. One-third of the vehicles are now out of service due to bomb attacks or maintenance.

The bomb threats are so pervasive that Stryker drivers have abandoned some stretches of road in favor of driving through the deserts on different routes.

The story sure seems to spend a lot of time focusing on negative quotes and experiences of the troops.

An eight-wheel Stryker vehicle from the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment is used in a Joint Task Force-East training exercise Sept. 3, 2009, at Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo/Released)

Army to switch 2 heavy brigades to Strykers

Two heavy brigade combat teams will vanish by 2013 to make way for two new Stryker brigades, bringing the Army’s number of active SBCTs to eight and taking another bite out of its armor formations.

Planning documents obtained by Army Times say 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Texas, and 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Hood, Texas, will be converted to SBCTs beginning in fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2012, respectively, and will take 24 months to become fully operational.

While adding a couple more Stryker brigades probably makes sense, I’m not sure I’d do it at the expense of two heavy brigades.

B-roll of Helicopter gun camera video footage released today shows the deliberate steps International Security Assistance Force personnel took when countering the threat of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) placed by two insurgents Aug. 5 along a road in southern Zabul province, Afghanistan. Scenes include an Attack Weapons Team of helicopters assigned to the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade of Task Force Pegasus observing and engaging two insurgents emplacing an IED, destroying them and eliminating the threat.
Courtesy Video
Date Taken: 08.05.2009
Posted: 08.09.2009 01:47
Video Location: Kabul, AF

Note that they talk about Strykers having just rolled through.

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Andrew Frengel and other soldiers move through Sab al Bour, north of Baghdad, July 20, 2009. The soldiers, from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, are assigned to Troop A, 2nd Squadron, 104th Cavalry Regiment, 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Srmy photo by Sgt. Doug Roles

A Stryker vehicle crew belonging to the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, fires a TOW missile during the brigade's rotation through Fort Polk's, Joint Readiness Training Center.