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The General Dynamics spin is that they are utilizing the Lima, OH tank plant for the extra capacity. However, their London, Ontario, Canada plant had undergone a layoff and the Stryker contract allowed them to return Canadian workers to their jobs 24/7. The 1,500 American workers in Pennsylvania still lost their jobs.

So, the Berry Aamendment only seems to apply if a company cannot afford to buy an Army general.

I apologize for the multiple posts. My ISP just came back online today from clearing up the mess left by the SoBig WORM. We're still having "iffy" service.

Generals Shinseki. Heebner and Keane all have stock options riding on the US committing this vehicle to combat. They thought it would be to Kosovo and nobody would get hurt but the Army planners said "if its certified, it goes where we need it - Iraq." So, the generals can give up their retirement money (and Shinseki his campaign money to run for Inouye's Senate seat from Hawaii next year) or pray the nobody gets mangled too badly.

Generals Shinseki. Heebner and Keane all have stock options riding on the US committing this vehicle to combat. They thought it would be to Kosovo and nobody would get hurt but the Army planners said "if its certified, it goes where we need it - Iraq." So, the generals can give up their retirement money (and Shinseki his campaign money to run for Inouye's Senate seat from Hawaii next year) or pray the nobody gets mangled too badly.

This 105 Mobile Gun System was recalled the first time they fired it off center liine of the vehicle. It flipped the vehicle over and killed the gunner. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

It is now 9/7/03 and the Stryker is less than a month away from deploying to Iraq and General Dynamics has still not delivered another Mobile Gun System. They all flip over.

No, only the final assembly steps are done in Anniston so that General Dynamics can dodge the Berry Amendment that states "DoD SHALL buy American." The last I heard from the Anniston Star, the folks out at the Anniston Depot were bolting on the wheels and putting the "finished vehicle" on railroad flatcars for delivery to Ft. Lewis.

United Defense lost because its protest was heard under the administration of the General Counsel of the GAO, Anthony Horace Gamboa. Nobody couuld figure that out. I did.

Gamboa and Shinseki were classmates for four years at West Point and graduated in the USMA Class of 1965. The "ring knocker," Gamboa, took care of another "ring knocker," Shinseki.

General Dynamics, the contractor for the Stryker, has never delivered the Mobile Gun System, the 105mm cannon. They have also not delivered the Armored Gun System they contracted to build for the Army in 1980 so I don't think that anyone is surprised that they did not build the gun.

The Strykers ordered by the US DOES NOT have a turret or a 25mm gun. They have only remotely operated 50 caliber machine guns. Those cannot be stabilized while on the move so the vehicle has to stop to put down supporting fire for its dismounted infantry. That lets the guys with the RPGs kill them since the Stryker uses its front four wheels for steering and cannot be fitted with RPG skirts.

Only a C-130 "J" model will carry a Stryker that is still 2,000 pounds over its contracted weight at 40,000 pounds. We only have less than 40 C-130Js. We have over 500 C-130Es. They will not lift the fat Strykers.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Not since the M113"A" model has it had "thin aluminum" armor. The upgraded M113s that have fought their way to Baghdad in the train of the 3rd Infantry Division and the 4th Infanty Divison are upgraded (rebuilt) M113A2s and M113A3. In a recent side-by-side comparison the M113s beat the pants off the Stryker. However, the Army already owns over 11,000 M113 chassis and there is no graft in rebuilding old chassis. The generals pushing the Stryker project namely Shinseki and his old deputy, General David K, Heebner, draw a stock commission on the sale of the Strykers.

We are paying $2.8 million bucks each for new Strykers when the M113A3s could have been refurbished had new digital electronics installed and fielded for less than $400,000. Ironically, the Israelis are buying the turreted Stryker because they don't have to fly them anywhere and their Raphael Armor works makes wonderful applique armor for them. They are only paying $1.5 million bucks each - $1.3 million dollars per vehicle less than we are paying. I guess they don't have any generals to bribe.

Even the automatic lowering and raising of the Stryker and deflation and inflation of the tires will not leave room for the Stryker with a turret to fly on a C-130. At present in the "squat" position and the tires running a low air pressure, the Stryker only has 14" of top clearance in a C-130. The only thing that can accomodate the lightly armored Strykers with a turret is a C-17. If they have to fly, why not just send the better armed and armored M2 Bradleys?

There's has a turrent with a 25mm Bushmaster chaingun. Our's has only unbalanced .50 caliber machine guns that cannot be fired on the move like the ones in the Abrams and Bradleys. In other words, our Strykers have to stop to fire. That makes them a direct target for both indirect fire (mortars, artillery) and direct fire weapons like RPGs, Molotov Cocktails to burn off the tires and machine guns that can shoot between the tires and there is no armor plate behind them - only tin.

We could not mount a turret on our's due to the fable about it being transportable by C130s. The turret makes them too high to enter and leave a C-130.

The Stryker at 40,000 pounds is able to get off the ground in only the Air Force's C-130J. That is the newest and most high-powered of the fleet because of upgraded engines and an additional use of jet assist. Unfortunately, the "J" model C-130 comprises only 8% of the 500 C-130 fleet. So, while the C-130J is good for making pictures to show Congress that it meets specifications, there are 300 Strykers in a Brigade. How many Stryker Brigades can be flown on 40 C-130Js? I'm pretty sure that when Congress made the requirement of C-130 air transportability a requiremnt of the contract, they were anticipating ALL of the Strykers being able to fly on the C-130s - not just on the planes that are super-charged.

Yeah but you gotta understand that several generals are in line to make millions from this deployment. Shinseki, Heebner, Keane all have a stake in this. Their deal with General Dynamics is not that the Stryker works but that America deploys it in combat.

They had rather deploy it in Kosovo but they've got to send it to Iraq. However, when the first one hits the ground all foreign sales are finalized and the bonuses are payable on that date. The small item that we're sending along 3,700 American kids dressed as test dummies is no problem when you're going for the gold.

Shinseki needs his loot to run for the Senate from Hawaii next year after he's killed enough American kids in this iron trap. All it is missing is handles on the outside so they can carry it like a coffin.

The latest story this afternoon was that 39 additional types of ceramincs had been produced but only six were approved. All 39 got installed.

General Dynamics put out a story last year that they were reformulating the armor to stop the penetration of both the 7.62mm and the 14.5mm rounds up to 200 yards. That apparently didn't work because then they began buying the ceramics that don't work.

Can you imagine how much weight the ceramics add to the air transportable by C-130 Strykers? The only C-130s that fly these will have C-17 painted on the side of them. General Dynamics is in complete default of this contract. They should be forced to walk away empty handed and BROKE!

Israel may be the proper country to use them. Since they don't have to fly them anywhere the heavy weight of the Stryker would not be a problem. Also, without the requirement to deploy by C-130s, the Israelis can bolt on the applique armor that their Raphael works makes so nicely.

In addition, since Israel maintans a fire support network of artillery bases to cover all of its territory the Stryker's lack of a main gun will not be a problem.

Also, since the Israelis are buying them for $1.3 million per car less than we are, they can take the chance on being able to fix them properly once they get them.

The only remaining problem I see for them are those big, rubber wheels. RPGs are a problem throughout the Middle East. Since the Stryker uses its front four wheels for steering they cannot be covered by RPG skirts. The Russian experience in Chechnya was that the big problem they faced in urban warfare was the Muslims using Molotov Cocktails and setting the rubber wheels on fire. Russia has now withdrawn all of its wheeled APCs and replaced them with their newer tracked vehicles.

That's a hoot - we'll buying wheeled armor because the Russians had it in Kosovo and they are geting rid of it because they lost so much of it in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

Israel should wait until they see how our Strykers do in Iraq beginning in October. Our's are deploying without the Mobile Gun System (MGS) promised by General Dynamics the first time in 1980. That one still has not arrived so I don't understand why anyone would be surprised that they have not performed this time. Armaments seem to be a problem at General Dynamics.

The Isralies are paying $1.5 million of our money for each vehicle and we're paying $2.8 million for each vehicle with our money. I don't get that unless they got a discount for buying sight unseen. That's sort of like buying a pig-in-a-poke.

Once again General Dynamics has been caught in a lie about this unarmored fat armored car. Nobody really knows what it is except a government boondoggle to make several generals rich but now its got another bug. Why is that not a surprise?

General Dynamics, the main contractor for this hog, hasn't told the truth about this vehicle, its weight, it armament, its armor, its size or anything else since this program started under that little ToJo, Shinseki. Now that Schoomaker is running the show, the warts on this mini - armored car are showing - again! Next Stop Iraq with 3,700 American soldiers dressed as test dummies. The Army shoiuld have sent a platoon or a company as a test before sending a 300 car brigade of untested lightly armored cars full of soldiers.