We have yet to hear of failures of the Remote Weapons Station. Last I heard the .50 cal jams pretty bad. Either they fixed that or they just aren't firing much .50 cal. I've heard a bit more about that from Ft Knox: it seems that the problem may be with rounds binding in the feed chute or partially delinking from inertia or vibration during travel- thus a gun loaded on the nice, stable conditions of a firing range will work swell and perform as advertised for observers; one that's travelled on bumpy roads at varying speeds and cornered around a few city streets may not.
A couple of potential fixes seem possible, beyond a redesign of the ststems feed chute to something more akin the units used aboard aircraft guns of WWII and PT boat mounts: one being the use of the M9 link, which has a tab that snaps into the extractor groove of the .50 cartridge case, locking the round more positively in the link. This would require minimal modification of the M2 machinegun, but probably nothing insurmountable; alternately, the old tankers M85 gun that uses the M9 link could be fitted on Strykers, and since these guns offer a high/low rate of fire setting, [ca 1000 RPM on the high setting] could even offer a firepower improvement for the Strykers. And a pair of such guns on the Stryker's Remote Gun System mount, made to withstand the weight and recoil of the 40mm Mk19 grenade launcher, could be even more spectacular.
Until that can be worked out and turned into a field-usable kit, it's also possible that a pair of M240 7,62 NATO MGs might be substituted for the single .50 M2. It's not as if the Stryker crews are going up against other light armored vehicles, in which they'd fare poorly; what they need is the firepower to hose down RPG gunners and observers for mine detonations- 7.62 should do just fine, and if one gun of such a pair on the RGS should hand up, the other would probably still get the job done.
It's possible, though, that the Stryker armament setup is flawed beyond simple redemption and will require a complete reengineering and MWO replacement workover. If that's the case, you'll see the M2 .50s remain aboard the Strykers, and you'll see the enemy RPG gunners and sappers get bolder. And we'll lose more Strykers, and unfortunately, some more crewment in them as well. 
Interesting.
Another Stryker rolls, one soldier thrownMICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
NEAR DULUIYAH, Iraq - Another Stryker vehicle rolled over into an irrigation canal, but this time no one was hurt, a brigade official said Friday.
One of the five soldiers aboard the vehicle was thrown clear when it rolled about 4:40 p.m. Tuesday near Samarra. The other four were quickly rescued from the submerged Stryker by two soldiers from another vehicle who witnessed the accident, said brigade spokesman Lt. Col. Joseph Piek.
Meantime, brigade officials said a supply convoy on its way Friday from the Stryker base camp to a logistics base near Tikrit was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade and small-arms fire east of Duluiyah.
The RPG detonated in the dirt along the road, destroying the windows of a truck in the convoy. Soldiers in the trucks and Humvees returned fire and kept driving through the attack.
No one was injured, and there was no information about whether the soldiers shot any of the attackers, brigade officers said.
The convoy was from the 44th Corps Support Battalion, a Fort Lewis unit attached to the Stryker brigade for its yearlong deployment in Iraq. The 44th is headquartered at a U.S. Army base just north of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, about 50 miles north of the Stryker base.
Tuesday's rollover follows a similar accident Dec. 8, which involved two Fort Lewis-based Strykers that tumbled into a canal north of Duluiyah. The earlier accident claimed the lives of Staff Sgt. Steven Bridges, 33; Spc. Joseph Blickenstaff, 23; and Spc. Christopher Rivera Wesley, 26, all of the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment.
The vehicles were about 250 meters apart when a road along the canal gave way, plunging both Strykers into water deep enough to nearly submerge them.
The Dec. 8 accidents are under investigation by the brigade staff as well as a team from the Army Safety Center.
Piek said Tuesday's rollover is likewise being investigated.
He said the vehicle, from the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, was on a route reconnaissance mission ahead of the early Wednesday start of Operation Arrowhead Blizzard, the brigade's offensive to root out Iraqi insurgents in Samarra.
The vehicle was traveling cross-country through agricultural land when an embankment along a canal gave way, sending the Stryker rolling into the water, Piek said.
The vehicle commander was thrown. The four passengers inside braced themselves and were unharmed.
Piek said the two soldiers who witnessed the accident went into the water and opened the crew hatch in the rear ramp to get the four out safely.
There was little structural damage to the $2 million vehicle, but significant interior water damage to the engine compartment and the electrical system, which will have to be replaced, Piek said.
Following the first accident, Col. Michael Rounds, the brigade commander, ordered that no more vehicles be driven along roads next to irrigation canals.
Piek said the vehicle in Tuesday's accident was driving cross-country, not on any road.
"But that's one question that will have to be investigated," he said.
News Tribune staff writer Michael Gilbert is embedded with the Stryker brigade in Iraq. Reach him at mjgilbert41@yahoo.com.
WITH THE STRYKERS IN IRAQ
