THE KILLER RIDE: Grading the Stryker Combat Vehicle

Military.com ^ | August 2004 | John Higgs

[Cannoneer No. 4]

There ya go, and thanks much.

[UB355]

An article entitled

THE KILLER RIDE: Grading the Stryker Combat Vehicle

ends with this statement

So is the Stryker better than the M113 in Iraq ?

What a waste of ink

[IGOTMINE]

I see Mr. Higgs has graduated from a number of the same small arms schools I've attended. How does that make him an expert on Stryker. (Which is performing very well.)

[dts32041]

I figured you had the stryker list

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Stryker Brigade Combat Team Tactical Studies Group (Chairborne)

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Somebody needs to take over this ping list. I am going to be AFK for a while.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

I'm trying to give it away. You want it?

[Cannoneer No. 4]

ping

[Cannoneer No. 4]

What does it take to write stuff about Strykers? Very little has been published by true experts on the vehicle. The vast majority of the true experts have a vested interest in the success of the program and aren't going to slam it. The few real experts who sincerely believe it is a POS cannot speak freely.

It all depends on what your definition of "expert" is. Somebody who is TDY from someplace over 100 miles away, I guess.

So far as can be determined through open sources, the troops who have to go to war in them are happy with their war machine.

[IGOTMINE]

There it is. I was skeptical, but the troops like the vehicle and that is good enough for me.

[soldiers dad]

I am of the opinion that the Stryker vehicles have proven themselves in Iraq. I know of no vehicle that will provide complete protection to it's occupants. I think that alot of the criticism is political.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

I am not near as skeptical as I was. I had major reservations about the Remote Weapons Station. It was not ready for prime time when the Stryker Brigade went to Kuwait last November. As far as I can tell they have it working, now. What heroic effort that took we will probably never know. Notice above where it says the RWS takes 60 seconds to rotate 360 degrees. If true, that is agonizingly slow.

Still a source of discontent is the air transportability issue.

[Travis McGee]

Why not both Strykers and upgraded Gavins? We have thousands of 113s, and it's only 400K to upgrade them. For high speed road duty, the Stryker is supreme. For MOUT, the 113. Why not both?

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Political not in the Democrats vs Republicans sense but in the tracks vs wheels, United Defense vs General Dynamics, Shinsekiites vs non-Shinsekiites sense. I think it is pretty clear that the vehicle that was sold to the taxpayers in 1999 is not what we got. I think it is also clear that we are going to get 6 or 7 Stryker Brigades anyway. That train has left the station. May as well accept the inevitable and accentuate the positive.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Why not both?

That would be a compromise. It is a winner take all procurement system. The wheels won. To the victor belong the spoils.

[Squantos]

Agree....good point.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

[ex 98C MI Dude]

The Stryker was not supposed to be all things to all people. Some people just can't get that thru their heads. It was meant to be a lightly armored, fast, people transporter that can trade punches with the enemy long enough to let the ground pounders take the bad guys out.

But some people are determined in their thinking. They believe that the vehicle must have the capability of the M1A2, while maintaining the mobility of a Humvee. Oh, and it has to be invulnerable to all known projectiles.

What a load of Kerry.

[prophetic]

bump

[Little Ray]

Speaking from personal experience, ANYTHING in better than an M-113. They should be asking "Is it better than a M-2 / M-3 Bradley."