That's the first thing that I thought of as well ... well, actually, it was the second.
My first thought was of the old M5 Stuart ...
Posted on 10/28/2016 8:02:32 AM PDT by C19fan
Today, after 18 months of urgent work, the Army rolled out its first upgunned Stryker vehicle, nicknamed Dragoon. The armored eight-wheel-drive troop transport, built by General Dynamics and normally armed with no more than a 0.50 calibre (12.7 millimeter) machinegun in an unprotected mount, has been rebuilt with an armored turret containing a 30 mm quickfiring cannon.
That’s enough firepower, the Army computes, to dispose of other lightly armored vehicles like the Russian BMP troop carrier. If the Russians invade the Baltics, the Stryker Dragoon can’t stop their heavy tanks, but it can thin out their scout vehicles and transports, allowing American M1 tanks to focus their 120 mm firepower on the heaviest targets.
(Excerpt) Read more at breakingdefense.com ...
Good upgrade to protect our ground troops. I was a Vulcan platoon leader, 20mm there and it was awesome shooting at ground targets. Luckily we never had to use them in Germany. Far better ground defense weapon than air defense.
I like that they did this.
I am all in favor of upgrading our military preparedness.
But I am dismayed by the increasing tone of “when we fight the Russians in the Baltics ...”
We used to be protecting Europe from the Soviets. I understood that.
Then we got embroiled in “nation building” in the Middle East. I didn’t like it.
Then we “pivoted” to focus on Asia. I understood that.
Now we are getting ready to fight the Russians. Somewhere. Anywhere. Syria? Baltics? Ukraine? Fulda Gap? I say “Hell No”.
This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we’ll be lucky to live through it. - Admiral Josh Painter
NATO’s mission ended 25 years ago.
NATO’s job now is to provide security-theater for the leftist-globalist social engineers of Western Europe. For example, America stands guard over the George Soros inspired and Angela Merkel-managed invasion of 1 million Muslim men in the last 18 months. NATO stands guard over the assassination of Khaddafy and the attempt to turn Libya over to Gulf-States sponsored Muslim Brotherhood groups.
THAT is NATO.
I’ve talked to infantrymen (the PC approved gender neutral word escapes me, sorry) who like riding in Strykers, BUT once the firing starts, want to get as far away as possible. With the new up-cannon on board, the modified Stryker will be a target worthy of big bad weapons that hurt infantry collaterally.
Oldplayer
Don’t forget, NATO bombed a lot of Christians with no remorse in the Balkans, including Belgrade.
> The initial Stryker was armed with only a .50 cal MAG to save weight.
Thats the natural progression of these platforms. More crap keeps getting added on until it becomes the next class up.
Where is Jack Ryan when we need him.
Or for that matter, Fred Thompson.
Some research says that if they are using the Mk44 Bushmaster II 30mm chain gun, then yes, it does use GAU-8 ammunition.
They are too loud to approach the enemy. To start.
That's the first thing that I thought of as well ... well, actually, it was the second.
My first thought was of the old M5 Stuart ...
Can’t have too much firepower.
In early 2015, the U.S. Army approved an upgrade for 81 Stryker vehicles of a Stryker Brigade Combat Team deployed in Europe to be upgunned with the Mk44 30 mm Bushmaster cannon to increase their lethality against other light armored vehicles used by Russia in the theater.
The cannons will be installed **by 2018**, and may be the first step in adding the Bushmaster to the entire active fleet of about 1,000 Strykers.
The XM813 variant will be used with the Strykers.
BTW - Stryker might a Croat word - translates to “Thin-skinned bullet magnet”
Bullet magnets.
Especially when this started over the U.S. supporting Al Qaeda jihadists directly-- and ISIS indirectly-- in Syria. Is one no longer patriotic when he refuses to back his country when it is siding with Salafist jihadists to overthrow a secular government and have its Christian people, protected by that secular government, slaughtered? And talking about war against a large, white Christian country which stepped in to protect a country being overrun with Christian-slaughtering Islamists??
There were version of the Stryker with a tank cannon. I don’t know if they’re still around though. I was never in a Stryker unit.
and why isn’t this at the mexican border? I do remember paying my taxes for this..
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