Fate Of Stryker, Army's New Combat Vehicle, Will Be Set In Iraq

Post-Gazette ^ | September 28, 2003 | Jack Kelly

[Ex-Dem]

The Army is scrambling to fix a flaw in its newest armored vehicle -- the already troubled Stryker -- before sending it to Iraq next month for its first test in real combat conditions.

The Stryker is a 19-ton armored car that was supposed to combine the speed and quick deployability of light forces with considerable firepower and armor protection.

[Thorondir]

The Stryker is the brainchild of Gen. Eric Shinseki

Oh, God help us! Nooooooooo! General Shitsacki is Japan's revenge for their defeat by us in WWII. Shitsacki is the three foot tall moron who came up with the black beret's for everyone campaign and the laughably stupid "Army of None" slogan. Sounds like we need to issue every stRyker to the muslim terrorists. That'll do the seventh century savages in, if it's something Shitsacki came up with.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Canadian LAV III

[Squantos]

Kewl Pic Thanks. I was in Desert Storm and worked with some of those guys in Qatar for a few months during the Shield mode. Great bunch of troops !

Stay Safe !

[Travis McGee]

bttt

[exnavy]

Trial by fire bump!

[exnavy]

By the way, my company, General Dynamics Land Systems, Muskegon, has technical reps. in country Iraq to assist in maintaining some of our products. One gentleman from our plant was injured in a roadside explosion last month. Prayers for our civilians over there would be helpful.

[Cacophonous]

The Stryker was supposed to be an "interim" vehicle utilizing "off the shelf" technology. But it rapidly gained size, weight and expense. The average cost of a Stryker variant now exceeds $3 million. The LAV III, on which the Stryker is based, weighs far less and costs only $900,000, despite carrying more powerful weapons.

The LAV III in service with the Canadians, Swedes, Norwegians and New Zealanders is a useful vehicle. The Canadians are running them in Kabul right now. If the US Army had left well enough alone they would have come out ahead.

Isn't that the typical progression of bad ideas the US government latches itself to? Take what may arguably start out as a good idea, pour so much money into it that it is too expensive an undertaking to walk away from from; engage so many advisors, clipboard-holders, flag officers and future General Dynamics Directors (named Shinseki) that the original intent is lost and it is transformed into something it was not intended to be; let politicians sway where the thing is to be deployed (they do NOT have the room or facilities in Hawaii, and will only get them with a MASSIVE infusion of dollars); and end up something that resembles, in large part something they already had. Remember, a camel is a horse designed by a government committee.

[Lion Den Dan]

To guard against RPGs, slat armor will be added. This is a steel mesh that will extend several inches to a foot beyond the skin of the Stryker (the actual distance is classified).

A picture of a slat armor Stryker in the current Army Times shows a vehicle that looks like a Lobster Trap. The width apears 50% greater than without the slat armor. This surely enhances mobility and the ability to engage from the vehicle.

When an RPG strikes an armored vehicle, the explosive charge in the warhead forms a blowtorch which burns a hole through the vehicle's skin. If the RPG warhead can be detonated before it reaches the skin, its destructive force will be dissipated before it can do serious damage.

This notion is obsolete with the advent of the PG7VR composite warhead fired from the RPG7V launcher. Check Google with "RPG7 composite warhead" and read all about it.

Slat armor will add more than two tons to the weight of each Stryker. Maj. Gary Tallman, an Army spokesman, said this will have no impact on the Stryker's performance. But O'Reilly has his doubts.

When you add 2 tons to any outfit, you feel the weight and mobility performance is impacted. It is called Physics.

[oldironsides]

This vehicle made in Germany has been at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland while they have been testing and improving the tiles. Germany sent an expensive vehicle not up to specs. How do they order such and expensive piece of equipment from Germany anyway? The USA must have the capability to build it?

[Darksheare]

"That'll do the seventh century savages in, if it's something Shitsacki came up with."
*chuckle*

That's for sure!
Better it be the enemy dying inside it than our boys!
Kinda leave one sit out in the open unmanned and opened up with a bunch of koran littered about the inside, a small boom box with a mudslim cluck to pray to their rock playing.
Wait for them to congregate, and then waste the whole thing.
Repeat as necessary.
Have a good one.

[Matthew James]

The "Shinseki" should come equiped with a see-through box in the back with the instructions "In Case of Combat Break Glass." Inside are 11 Purple Hearts for the crew.

[.cnI redruM]

Without its armor, the Shinseki For Senate Limo (SFSL) is an RPG magnet. With its armor, the SFSL Interim Fighting Vehicle offers no access to most of the controls located on the exterior of the vehicle (eg. self-recovery winch, BII tool boxes). Either way, this vehicle needs two more years. The Army needs to get away from dumping unworkable crap into its motorpools and fixing by MWO.

[Valin]

If the US Army had left well enough alone they would have come out ahead.

Now when was the last time the penagon left well enough alone. I'm suprised they didn't do a study on inventing the wheel.
As I've said before, the Stryker concept is good but this vehicle sounds like son of the Crusader.

[Darksheare]

Well, the Crusader was a good concept.
And compared to the Paladin, a better vehicle.
But as with all artillery systems in development, it had some bugs to work out like accuracy issues, which my system had to do in it's inception as well.
It was canceleld largely due to several propagandistic and predatory remarks by some such as this: "The fragments from it's shells will ruin Stryker and LAV tires."- Shinseki. And "It's 60 tons (M1A1 Abrams weight) we don't have anything taht can carry it!" -some moron in congress.
The problems with accuracy were basically worked out, and then it was killed.

*Snort*
Picatinney Arsenal is rightly P.O'd about that.

Shinseki has ALOT more ot answer for than just the stupid beret fiasco.
He created another SGT. York boondoggle.

[theFIRMbss]

>This vehicle made in Germany ... How do they order such and expensive piece of equipment from Germany anyway?

Germany also
sells a state-of-the-art sub
(advanced non-nuke sub)

to the Israelis.
Sounds like Germany's getting
lots of good practice

winning the arms race.
It seems we can't even build
a shuttle that's safe...

[archy]

Without its armor, the Shinseki For Senate Limo (SFSL) is an RPG magnet. With its armor, the SFSL Interim Fighting Vehicle offers no access to most of the controls located on the exterior of the vehicle (eg. self-recovery winch, BII tool boxes). Either way, this vehicle needs two more years. The Army needs to get away from dumping unworkable crap into its motorpools and fixing by MWO.

Only two of the eight versions proposed are to be fitted with the winch anyway, presumably the Combat Engineer Strykers and the mechanics/maintenance support version. The rest will probably use tow cables, just like the M113.

-archy-/-

[archy]

Slat armor will add more than two tons to the weight of each Stryker. Maj. Gary Tallman, an Army spokesman, said this will have no impact on the Stryker's performance. But O'Reilly has his doubts.

When you add 2 tons to any outfit, you feel the weight and mobility performance is impacted. It is called Physics.

As the center of gravity from the add-on armor raises higher, so does the liklihood that the vehicle will overturn. And the unarmored Strykers have already shown their ability in that regard, even without the remote gun system fitted atop the vehicle.

[Lion Den Dan]

Like I said, physics. Good picture Archy, not one of the ones Ft. Knox would like displayed but a very good picture.

[archy]

Canadian LAV III's in Kabul

Canadian LAV III

LAV III in Kosovo:

[archy]

Like I said, physics. Good picture Archy, not one of the ones Ft. Knox would like displayed but a very good picture.

You might be surprised. Ft Knox is not only the home to armor, but also to the Armored Cav and 19-Delta scouts, who pretty uniformly recognize the weaknesses of the Stryker and want no part of it, from what I've heard from the hundred or so I've had the chance to chat with.

And they've been ordered to quit calling it the Stynker. Stop that!

-archy-/-