[varon]

And in what ways is the NZ version an improvement, besides the armament? What are the other differences between the Kiwi variant and the version our first Stryker Brigade Combat Team takes to Iraq next month?

If vee tell you, vee vill haf to kill you ;-)

[lshoultz]

There's has a turrent with a 25mm Bushmaster chaingun. Our's has only unbalanced .50 caliber machine guns that cannot be fired on the move like the ones in the Abrams and Bradleys. In other words, our Strykers have to stop to fire. That makes them a direct target for both indirect fire (mortars, artillery) and direct fire weapons like RPGs, Molotov Cocktails to burn off the tires and machine guns that can shoot between the tires and there is no armor plate behind them - only tin.

We could not mount a turret on our's due to the fable about it being transportable by C130s. The turret makes them too high to enter and leave a C-130.