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NavigationInterim ArmoredOn February 27, 2002, The Army formally named its new Interim Armored Vehicle the “Stryker” in a ceremony at Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The Stryker armored vehicle, the combat armored vehicle of choice for the Army’s Interim Brigade Combat Teams (IBCTs), is a highly deployable-wheeled armored vehicle that combines firepower, battlefield mobility, survivability and versatility, with reduced logistics requirements. The armored vehicle was named in honor of two Medal of Honor recipients: Pfc. Stuart S. Stryker, who served in World War II, and Spc. Robert F. Stryker, who served in Vietnam. The Stryker armored vehicle will be a primary weapons platform for the IBCTs. It will assist the IBCT in covering the near-term capabilities gap between our Legacy Force heavy and light units. More info. |
Introduction interimored armored vehicle, future stryker, stryker combat vehicle etc stryker vehicle and wheeled armored vehicle.Stryker Armored Vehicle
In February 2002 the Army named its new interim armored vehicle after two soldiers
who received the Medal of Honor. The Stryker armored vehicle is named in honor of Spc.
4 Robert F. Stryker, who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during
the Vietnam War, and Pfc. Stuart S. Stryker armored vehicle, who received the award for
his actions during World War II. Both men were killed in action. They
were not related. This is only the second Army armored vehicle named after enlisted
personnel. In the early 1980s, the service named the Division Air Defense
gun for World War I hero Sgt. Alvin York. The system was plagued with
problems before then- Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger cancelled it.
The Army's LAV is being produced in two major variants: the Infantry Carrier Vehicle and the Mobile Gun System. The Mobile Gun System will have a 105mm cannon, the same gun tube as the one on the original M-1 Abrams tank. This is not a tank replacement, but it gives a direct fire capability to support the infantry elements. Before the Mobile Gun System is fielded, units will get the Anti-tank Guided Missile Armored Vehicle which will have a TOW system capable of blasting through reinforced concrete bunkers. All of the LAVs will be deployable by C-130 and larger aircraft. As of September 2002 the Army was flying Stryker in C-130s under a temporary waiver issued by the Air Force. The waiver was necessary because the vehicle is too wide to accommodate the 14-inch safety aisle around all sides that is required by the Air Force for the loadmaster. Additionally, only a portion of its crew may fly in the same aircraft. Etc. Visit .globalsecurity.org can more info. Army's new wheeled armored vehicle criticizedThe U.S. Army's choice for an Interim Armored Vehicle, the LAV III, was unveiled a week ago in a rollout ceremony in London, Ontario. The Army plans to spend $4 billion to acquire 2,131 of the armored vehicles, called the Stryker, to provide a lightweight armored vehicle until it begins procuring a new generation of high-tech tanks and armored personnel carriers around 2008. Supporters say the Stryker armored vehicle is the first step toward a lighter, more mobile Army that can respond more quickly to international crises. Critics say it is a waste of money that could endanger soldiers' lives. The Stryker is an eight-wheeled armored car that will be manufactured principally by General Motors of Canada. It is a heavier, more modern version of the armored car that has been used for more than 20 years by Canadian Forces and the U.S. Marines. The Army plans to have the first Stryker armored vehicle brigade operational by January, but not all configurations of the armored vehicle will be available until 2005. The Stryker will come in two variants: an armored personnel carrier with nine different configurations, and a mobile gun system equipped with a 105 mm cannon capable of destroying bunkers and some light tanks. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki wants the Stryker to provide greater tactical mobility, firepower and a measure of armor protection for the Army's light divisions. It is part of his plan to "lighten" the Army so more power can be moved more rapidly to areas in crisis. Critics point out that the Stryker armored vehicle would add weight to the Army's light divisions. Six of the Army's 10 divisions are "heavy" -- with armor or mechanized infantry -- equipped with the Abrams tank and the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Heavy divisions are all but invincible on a conventional battlefield. But because the Abrams weighs nearly 70 tons, and the Bradley 25 tons, it is very difficult to move more than a small part of a heavy division rapidly. Of the six brigades Shinseki wants to equip with Strykers, all but one are "light" formations. One of the brigades slated to receive the Stryker is the 56th Brigade of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, headquartered in Philadelphia. "This puts us at the forefront of Army transformation," said the brigade commander, Col. Philip Carlin, who owns an insurance company in Altoona. Few doubt the need for the Army to have light armored vehicles. But, critics say, the Army already has a better one. That is the M-113 armored personnel carrier, nicknamed the Gavin, the mainstay of the mechanized infantry before the Bradley. The Army has about 17,000 Gavins, which run on tracks, but most of them are in storage. The Senate Armed Services Committee wrote into the defense authorization bill for 2001 a requirement that a side-by-side comparison test be made of the Stryker Armored Vehicle and the Gavin before an interim light armored vehicle is chosen. Congress gave the defense secretary permission to waive the test if he didn't think it was necessary. Army Secretary Thomas White will ask Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to waive the test, a spokeswoman said. Col. David Ogg, a project manager, told Defense News a comparative evaluation would provide "little or no new information." An analyst for a think tank funded chiefly by defense industries agrees. "The Army conducted a broad series of tests on options for the interim force between March and November of 2000," said Daniel Goure of the Lexington Institute. "To do it again would be a waste of time, money and effort. "Lightweight wheeled vehicles have been ideal for most of the situations we've been confronting in the war on terror," Goure said. But a serving Army officer, a veteran of the biggest tank battle of the Persian Gulf War, said the real reason the Army brass doesn't want to have a side-by-side test is that they are afraid the Stryker would come up short. Another doubter is retired Army Col. John Barnes, who, as a staff member for the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote the language requiring the side-by-side tests. The Army is proposing to spend a great deal of money to acquire a light armored vehicle that is no better and perhaps worse than one it already has, Barnes said. The Gavin would be easier to support logistically, he said. "People don't realize that in the heavy divisions even today, there are more M-113s than there are Abrams or Bradleys," he said. "There are parts in the system to fix the M-113, and mechanics who know how to maintain it. The Stryker will require a whole new logistics stream." The most vocal critic of the Stryker armored vehicle has been Mike Sparks, a former Marine and paratrooper. Sparks wrote with retired Gen. David Grange a book on how to use light armor to support airborne operations. The Stryker and Gavin are essentially equal in armor protection, and in the types of weapons they can carry, Sparks said. But the Gavin is vastly superior in strategic and tactical mobility, he said. A requirement for the Interim Armored Vehicle is that it be able to be carried by the Air Force's tactical airlifters, the C-17 (of which the Air Force has 64) and the C-130, (of which the Air Force has 510). Both vehicles fit comfortably on a C-17, although it can carry five Gavins at a time and no more than three Strykers. The smaller, lighter Gavin has been carried and airdropped by C-130s for years. But at 37,000 pounds in its lightest variant, the Stryker is at the outer limit of the C-130's cargo capacity, and its greater height makes it a tight fit in the C-130's cargo compartment. A spokeswoman for the Canadian Forces said a Stryker can be squeezed onto a C-130 if the air is let out of the tires. In an internal document, the Army acknowledged that eight of the 10 proposed variants of the Stryker are currently too heavy to be lifted by a C-130. A public affairs officer for the Army's Tank Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) in Warren, Mich., said all the Stryker variants would meet the C-130 lift weight limit, but wouldn't say how. "We've got a plan," said Peter Keating of General Dynamics Land Systems, the principal American contractor for the Stryker armored vehicle. "Some of it involves hardware changes [as, for instance, using aluminum rather than steel for the Stryker's wheels armored vehicle]. Some of it involves what the Army wants to have fly [on the C-130] with the vehicle." The Lexington Institute's Goure said that because wheeled vehicles are easier and cheaper to maintain, and are gentler on roads, they are better suited than tracked vehicles for peacekeeping missions. But the value of the Stryker will be diminished if the weight of its principal variants can't be reduced enough to transport it on a C-130, he said. Once on the battlefield, the Gavin will have a much easier time getting around, Sparks said. "Since the beginning of mechanized warfare, engineers have recognized that tracked vehicles have substantial advantages over wheeled vehicles of comparable weight in cross-country mobility," Sparks said. "This is why virtually every tank in every army from World War I on has been on tracks, not wheels." It would cost between $100,000 and $500,000 to provide each Gavin with a digitized communications system like those the Abrams and Bradley have. New tracks would lighten the armored vehicle and allow the Gavin to travel at up to 50 mph on roads, Sparks said. The Stryker will cost more than $2 million, he said. For more information about wheeled armored vehicle and stryker armored vehicle please visit Post Gazette.
Strker8-Wheel Drive Armored VehiclesStryker
is a family of eight-wheel drive combat vehicles, transportable in a C-130
aircraft, being built for the US Army by General Dynamics Land Systems
- Canada (formerly General Motors Defense) and General Dynamics Land Systems
Division of USA. Stryker is based on the GDLS Canada LAV III 8x8 light
armoured vehicle, in service since early 2001. The LAV III is itself a
version of the Piranha III built by Mowag of Switzerland, now part of
GDLS - Europe. Fabrication and final assembly of the vehicles is being
shared among plants at Anniston, Alabama; Lima, Ohio; and London, Ontario. The Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) combines the capacity for rapid deployment with survivability and tactical mobility. The Stryker vehicle enables the team to manoeuvre in close and urban terrain, provide protection in open terrain and transport infantry quickly to critical battlefield positions. The eight-wheeled Stryker armored vehicle is the first new military vehicle to enter service into the United States Army since the Abrams tank in the 1980s. The contract for the US Army's interim armoured vehicle (IAV) was awarded in November 2000. The armored vehicles are to form the basis of six Brigade Combat Teams by 2008. The contract requirement covers the supply of 2,131 vehicles. Deliveries of Stryker infantry carriers began in April 2002. Over 1,000 vehicles have been delivered. This source come fromarmy-technology.com/. Stryker Armored Vehicle reportAn internal Army report, marked “For Official Use Only,” reveals that the Stryker Interim Armored Vehicle has been only 50 percent effective overall against Rocket Propelled Grenades during combat in Iraq, much less effective than what the Pentagon has publicly claimed. According to the report: “Soldiers were briefed that slat armor would protect them against eight out of eleven strikes against Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) attacks…In the field, Soldiers say the slat armor is effective against half of the RPG attacks.” The report said that the 5,000-pound improvised “slat” armor attached to the Stryker armored vehicle is failing to defend against two of the three types of RPG attacks that have been used against U.S. soldiers in Iraq -- primarily strikes by anti-personnel RPGs and anti-tank RPGs. When these two types of RPGs hit the vehicle, “the shrapnel continues to move through the slat and hits exposed personnel,” the report says. The high-tech Stryker’s computer software is slowing and overheating in the extreme temperatures of Iraq. As a result, the Center said the vehicles need to be air-conditioned. The Army has approved adding air-conditioning to the vehicles, but funding has not yet been approved. The Stryker’s primary offensive weapon system, a grenade launcher, does not hit targets when the vehicle is moving. You can chick this page visit more info. |