Posted on 07/26/2002 10:58:12 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
WASHINGTON, July 25—Tomorrow the Army is scheduled to receive the first pre-production Stryker Mobile Gun System from prime contractor General Dynamics in Michigan.The Stryker is a key part of the Army’s effort to transform into a lighter and more agile force. Stryker is a 19-ton wheeled armored vehicle that will come in 10 different types of platforms, of which the Mobile Gun is one. General Dynamics has already delivered pre-production models of several other types of Stryker platforms.
In November 2001, the Army awarded a six-year requirements contract to a joint venture between General Motors and General Dynamics Land Systems, with an estimated total value of $4 billion, to equip the six planned Interim Combat Brigade Teams, now known as Stryker Brigades, with 2,131 Stryker armored vehicles.
The Mobile Gun System is built at the General Dynamics technology center Muskegon, Mich. The company will build eight developmental prototypes altogether at a cost of $62 million.
The mobile gun is in a 27-month development phase and still needs government testing and evaluation, said General Dynamics Land Systems spokesman Peter Keating. The formal service acceptance and decision to move into low-rate initial production is scheduled for June 2003. The initial production of 72 mobile guns is expected to begin next year at the General Dynamics Anniston Ala., facility.
The mobile gun carries a General Dynamics 105mm tank cannon in a low-profile turret integrated into the General Motors LAV-III chassis. The cannon was used on the U.S. M1 and M60 tanks and extensively on other tanks world wide, Keating said.
The armored vehicle protects the crew from machine gun fire, mortar and artillery fragments on a battlefield.
Since April, the Army has received 106 Stryker infantry carriers and other variants, which have gone to the Stryker brigades at Fort Lewis, Wash.
The infantry carrier is making its public debut in the joint forces exercise Millennium Challenge 02 at the National Training Center, Calif., where 12 of the vehicles have been scheduled to demonstrate their mobility and ability to be transported by C-17 Globemaster from Washington to California, then by C-130 Hercules to the training center, where they are supposed to drive off ready for action.
Other Stryker variants are used for: nuclear, chemical and biological reconnaissance; anti-tank guided missile-launching, medical evaluation, mortars, engineer squads, infantry squads, command groups and fire support teams. The vehicles can run at more than 60 miles per hour on a highway, have common parts and a central tire-inflation system.
General Motors and General Dynamics will share fabrication and final assembly of the vehicle at General Dynamics Land Systems’ Anniston, Ala., Lima, Ohio, and GM’s London, Ontario facilities.
Since this vehicle was orginally designed for Military Police use, like the HUMMV, I will reserve judgement.
I still miss not being able to play with the toys.
I do note, however, that armored cars were widely and effectively used against Arab and other irregular forces between the World Wars in North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, especially by the British and and the French.
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.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
And remember, Loose lips sink ships.
-archy-/-
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-/-
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