Archive for the ‘Stryker’ Category
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.
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.
MGS Brings the Heat by Matthew Cox.
Possibly in response to some criticisms published last week? One thing I’ve noticed is that the MGS vehicles almost never show up in official photos. I don’t know if that means anything, but I’ve been watching for them and haven’t seen many.
Contractors working for General Dynamics Land Systems Inc. are putting in 10-hour days at Fort Lewis to get the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division’s recently returned fleet ready for duty again. The 270 or so armored vehicles arrived at the Port of Olympia in November after 15 months of hard duty in Iraq.
The reset process began earlier this month and typically takes about seven days per vehicle…Nineteen of the brigade’s hardest hit Strykers were sent to the General Dynamics plant in Anniston, Ala., for structural repairs. Another 20 destroyed in Iraq are being replaced with new trucks, officials said.
The brigade needs to be on stand-by by June 1st.
Unbiased commentary:
I have been in Olympia for a long time. All that happened last night was that people who have lived here for years got tired of being attacked. There was no outside group. Everyone running out there last night were Olympians in revolt. The cops got hit with countless rocks. The reason things are different is because everyone is sick to death of the murder and destruction all around them.
I’m unconvinced. I think they’re just a bunch of morons.
Supporting evidence:
Authored by: scooter on Wednesday, November 14 2007 @ 02:22 PM PST
more people, this needs more people! it’s amazing what you can do with just 150 though. have the port workers taken a position yet?Authored by: quexalcote on Wednesday, November 14 2007 @ 06:11 PM PST
There needs to be more people, and people with gas masks, body armor, and weapons. The war did not, in fact, stop there.Authored by: notafed on Wednesday, November 14 2007 @ 09:30 PM PST
I agree, anarchists need to come to these actions prepared for a fight.
Yep. Sounds just like regular old citizens taking a stand against injustice.
Earlier this year I covered a bit of the protesting in Tacoma over the deployment of a Stryker brigade. Surprise, surprise! The protesters are back, this time protesting the return of a Stryker brigade.
Anti-war demonstrators protesting military at Olympia port
The “Port Militarization Resistance” group opposes what it calls Olympia’s complicity in the Iraq war.
A Navy cargo ship docked at Olympia yesterday carrying equipment used by the Fort Lewis Third Stryker brigade during its 15 months in Iraq. The protesters say the equipment will be refitted and repaired for further combat.
Police push aside protesters as Strykers depart
Protesters became more emboldened as the night progressed, even chasing down the moving convoys so they could stand or sit in the roadway in front of them. Police officers were able to clear the roadways and forced the protesters back to the sidewalks using their batons. At one point, the protesters dumped garbage on the roadway in an unsuccessful bid to stop the convoys.
1 Arrested at Olympia Anti-War Protest
Allie Van Nostran, 18, an Evergreen State College student, said people were shoved back to the sidewalk.
“I was shoved across my collarbone with a billy club,” Van Nostran said.
Police working overtime at Port of Olympia
The Olympia Police Department’s response to protests Tuesday and Wednesday in opposition to the unloading of military cargo used in Iraq has cost the city about $10,000, police said.
It must be great living near these lunatics.
Coverage of the earlier protests in Tacoma, used because of previous protests in Olympia:
Freedom isn’t free…Will that be cash or credit?
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