The fact that the Stryker can withstand 14.5mm fire w/o the reactive armor on is a vast improvement over the old M113, which I doubt would stand up to a direct hit from a 7.62mm at close range. My only concern is that they don't use this lightweight thing to replace the Bradley. It would, however, be a great replacement for the HMMWV in armor battalion scout platoons, and in the 2d ACR.
The STRYKER has half-inch armour, and an internal fuel tank, rough on the crew in there with it when targeted by either RPG7 or RPG 18 projectiles, which have no problem with the half-inch armour of the vehicle. And its suspension and related automotive equipment are such that bolt-on up armor kits, long available for the M113A3 [with external fuel cells] and available from the Israelis in an RPG-proof version, are unlikely to ever be fielded for the STRYKER.
The 1.5-inch thick side armour of an M113 can indeed be pierced by a 7,62mm round; we used to shoot firepower demonstrations at Ft Knox for incoming West Point Armor Basic officers, commissioned young Second Lieutenants but still rookies insofar as being a tanker was concerned. A part of our firepower demonstration was to work over a M113 hulk at 600 yards with tracers from the coaxial machinegun, which would penetrate unless the far-side track/road wheels were placed in a ditch so the impacting rounds would impact at less than a 90º angle. And hitting the pop bottle on a fencepost at 880 yards- a half-mile- with the main gun generally got their attention as well. We worked over a variety of targets, slowly, so they could see what was being fired on, and why each particular weapon, MG or main gun, was the pick for that target. And if missed, how a quickly corrected shot [in those *burst on target* days] could be quickly applied. And after ammo was expended and our demonstration had ended, they thought it was over. That is not how tankers do business.
That was when a siren went off and two more tanks roared in from the left side of the bleachers where those observers were sitting, and another pair charged in from the right side, and joined up with their platoon brother [5 to a tank platoon then; four now] And they sat there idling like panting tigers waiting to run something down and kill it.
The colonel with the loudspeaker then reminded them that tanks don't go it alone, and that rarely does a single tank take on a movement or fire engagement on its own. And so they should better remember that, they were shown what that looks like from outside the tank.
All four of the newcomers let fly with main gun rounds at the same time [synchronized via the radio] and then began working over all the targets we'd left, and making littler bits out of the ones we'd hit. And out of ammo, all we could do was watch, and move out with them...except.... There was a little collection of a dozen or so silhouette tarhets only about 50 meters in front of that bleachers, and we were heading right for them. When we got there, our driver plowed right into them then did a *neutral steer* pivot turn 360º to the left, came to a stop, then repeated the pivot steer to the right, after which the mangled remains of the cardboard targets were pressed into the Kentucky mud, with one or two flapping from between our tracks and fenders. The vehicle itself is every bit as much a weapon as the MGs and cannon, and that lesson became very clear at that point.
I put on that display a half-dozen or so times in the 4 years I remained an enlisted tanker, and once or twice for post open house or all-services presentations. There was never a time when the tanks moved out and destroyed every target in front of them that the treadheads in the stands didn't stand up and cheer.
They used to call Armor *The combat arm of Decision.*
-archy-/-
