I’ve heard very little about the MGS since they arrived in Iraq some time back.

Stryker unit will be tested in Afghanistan

5th Brigade, 2nd Division (I thought they reflagged to 2nd Brigade?) is being shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan, the first time a Stryker brigade will be deployed there. The Rangers have used a few Strykers there, though I’ve heard no details about that. Also, the Canadian army has been using LAV IIIs, which the Stryker is based on, in Afghanistan for years.

The article says that both the 5th and 3rd Brigades have been splitting their training between Iraq-specific and Afghanistan-specific for some time in case this happened. The 3rd Brigade is still going to Iraq as originally planned.

UPDATE: Via the incomparable DJ Elliott comes this bit in Army Times:

No decisions have been made about which brigade might backfill the 5th SBCT for its original mission in Iraq, the [unnamed] senior Army official said.

“The reasonable assumption is we’re planning to replace them in Iraq,” he said.

The long-standing requirement of two Stryker brigades in Iraq has not changed, he said. The two SBCTs in Iraq now are the 56th SBCT from the Pennsylvania National Guard and 1st SBCT, 25th Infantry Division, of Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

“There’s going to be some significant … work associated with backfilling [5th SBCT] in Iraq,” the senior Army official said. “With this announcement there’s going to be an increased frequency in deployments for Stryker brigades.” [emphasis Murdoc's]

Pack your bags, Stryker soldiers.

Several readers have pointed out a couple of items about the Australian LAVs in response to the post from last Thursday.

First, I was mistaken in thinking that the ASLAVs are LAV III derivatives. They are, in fact, LAV Is similar to those used by the US Marine Corps. Here’s a bit of background on the program and here is more info on the ASLAV variants. Both contain numerous images.

Also, a couple of readers pointed out that Autralian LAVs in Iraq were, in fact, fitted with “bar armor” similar to the slat armor used on US Army Strykers. To heap embarrassment upon my mistake, one reader noted that I had actually posted pictures of one, and he’s right. Also, in that same post, the comments contained all the info I needed to learn that ASLAVs are LAV Is, not LAV IIIs. D’oh.

My apologies for the errors, and thanks again to the readers who keep Murdoc on the straight and narrow.

To make up for it, here’s another pic:

An Australian Light Armoured Vehicle and its crew wait patiently for the order to move out on a patrol in the Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan. (Date taken: 25 November 2008)

Thats Mad.

US Stryker

Looking for LAVs in All the Right Places:

The new request includes: 400 M1126 Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicles (ICVs), which replace the array of LAVs Iraq had been seeking. An accompanying request for 400 M2HB .50 cal Heavy Machine Guns would equip the Stryker ICVs with their standard defensive weapon, which is usually mounted in one of Kongsberg M151 Protector remote-controlled weapon turrets. Note that an order for those turrets would not require a US DSCA announcement, if it is placed with the Norwegian firm for manufacture in Norway.

Previous requests for LAV-25s are canceled, and the Strykers appear headed for Iraqi National Police, not Iraqi Army units.

See Defense Industry Daily for more.

An Australian Light Armoured Vehicle waits behind a camel train during a patrol through the Baluchi Valley, southern Afghanistan. (Date taken: 26 November 2008)

I keep wondering why no one but the US Army uses slat armor on their LAVs.

UPDATE: Several readers have pointed out that Australian LAVs in Iraq did use slat armor. More on the ASLAV here.

Once upon a time, Murdoc Online was “all Stryker, all the time.” But as the new vehicles have proven themselves over and over in Iraq, the controversy has died away and they’ve become just another tool in the Army.

The 2nd Cavalry Stryker Regiment out of Vilsek, Germany, has been home for a while, but their Stryker vehicles just started arriving.

On Saturday, dozens of Stryker armored personnel carriers arrived home to Vilseck, 19 months after they left for the desert. Recently returned soldiers from the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, who relied on the eight-wheeled behemoths to keep them safe in the war zone, were at the railhead to meet them.

One of them, Stryker driver Spc. Thomas Mayberry, 27, of Cabot, Ark., said the vehicles looked naked without the protective cages they wore downrange to guard against rocket propelled grenades.

I’ve heard very little in the way of negative feedback from the troops in Stryker brigades.

U.S. Army Pfc. Luis Torres, of Nemesis Troop, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, tests the communication system on his Stryker vehicle prior to a presence patrol mission in the Dora District of Baghdad, Iraq, Dec. 28, 2007. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Adrian Cadiz) (Released)

Army considers variants of Stryker, Abrams

Missed this while on the road last week:

Meanwhile, the Army has built a prototype of a new Stryker maintenance vehicle variant built with a trailer and crane to recover battle-damaged vehicles in combat, said U.S. Army Col. Christopher Lockhart, TRADOC Capabilities Manager, Stryker.

“It would recover destroyed Strykers, even catastrophically destroyed Strykers with all the tires blown off. It works in conjunction with a trailer. It will be a new variant if we chose to go that way,” said Lockhart.

In addition, the Army has outfitted several Stryker vehicles with an armor kit along the lower sides of the vehicles designed to stop deadly shaped charges such as explosively formed penetrates.

“The Stryker modernization program will allow you to put more weight on the system. There is a hull protection kit, an armor package, that is being put on selective Strykers right now. It is on the lower part of the side. EFPs impact around the tire area,” said Lockhart.

The Army plans also call for full funding of the NBC (nuclear, chemical, biological) reconnaissance Stryker variant.

“We want more of the NBC recon vehicles to replace Fox vehicles that are out there. We had to address all of the manned-ground vehicles [FCS] issues in our planning. Once we did that there was a little bit of RDT & E [research, development, test and evaluation] money for the entire Stryker family. From an engineering perspective we will continue to modernize the Stryker family. They will continue to be reset and be operationally capable because they are in the hands of soldiers being used,” said Thompson.

The maintenance variant might be nice, but I was hoping for a 25mm or 30mm gun version.

Also, don’t forget the 155mm howitzer prototype Stryker.

Just because.

Another below:
(more…)

Defense Tech has some more feedback on the Stryker Mobile Gun System, this time a bit more favorable.

Honestly, most of the criticism I’ve heard or read about doesn’t seem too far out of the ordinary for a new vehicle. And, as the troops in Iraq were calling for this vehicle for years, “rushing” (if you ignore how far behind schedule it was to being with) a not-totally-finished platform into service wasn’t necessarily the wrong thing to do, if that is what happened.

Besides, with the MGS taking the heat, the rest of the Strykers suddenly have become the standards to meet. And only just recently they were pieces of crap. Of course, the previous standard, the M2 Bradley, was also a piece of crap when introduced.