Archive for the ‘Stryker’ Category

A civilian contractor watches as a Stryker armored personnel carrier is lifted onto a flatbed truck at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, July 16. The Stryker was part of a convoy which transported military equipment to Forward Operating Base Warhorse as part of the coalition's reorientation. Photo by Spc. Kyoshi Freeman

Stykers headed back to Baqubah.

The Army’s LandWarrior system will be making its first brigade-wide deployment when the 5thBrigade, 2nd Infantry Division hits the ground in Afghanistan. It was used by a battalion, with pretty good success, in Iraq.

The soldiers of 5th Brigade begin deploying to southern Afghanistan this month and should see less urban combat than previous Stryker deployments to Iraq. But each unit in the brigade will receive Land Warrior. Team leaders, squad leaders, platoon leaders, platoon sergeants and higher will all be equipped with the system.

The two Fort Lewis Stryker brigades deploying later this year to Iraq have requested the system but are unlikely to receive it before they leave, said John Geddes, the Land Warrior trail boss at Fort Lewis.

No doubt the use of the system in a different type of environment and on a larger scale will turn up both more problems and more new uses.

5th Brigade is the one that had been training for Iraq but was shifted to Afghanistan in February.

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

U.S. Army Soldiers of the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division patrol through Rashidiyah, Iraq, Oct. 6, 2007. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Russell Bassett)

Greyhawk points out the confirmation of something we were already pretty sure was going to happen:

Shifting one Stryker brigade slated for Iraq to Afghanistan just meant that a different Stryker brigade would have to deploy to Iraq to take its place.

But Greyhawk makes an observation that had not occurred to me:

Read the first entry in this series for details of the preparations made by the Stryker Brigade for an Iraq deployment – 10-month Arabic language schools being just part of the training rendered useless by a reassignment to a country where the locals don’t speak it.

Of course, “intensive, 10-month Arabic language training” and “exercises… where they had to help their commanders negotiate with native-speaker role players” were now useless – but if they were no longer needed in Iraq, so be it.

But they were needed in Iraq – just not as badly as the Obama administration needed to make it appear that troops initially slotted for Iraq were going to Afghanistan instead – seemingly making good on a key campaign promise. So with much fanfare the Iraq drawdown (consisting entirely of the Stryker Brigade)/Afghanistan surge (Strykers plus a Marine unit) was announced, and subsequent polls indicated Americans were wildly enthusiastic about the idea.

Let’s recall a previous Stryker brigade deployment moved up in the schedule: The latest “rush to war” in which the media fell over itself fretting about units being “surged” into Iraq by President Bush without having completed all of the planned training.

Which unit was that particular article about? Oh, it was the 4th Brigade, 2nd Division. The same brigade that is being sent to Iraq early to fill in for the brigade being shifted to Afghanistan. I wonder where all the hysterics over sending unprepared troops into the combat zone are this time around. (Not really.)

How the times have changed.

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.