Army Leaders Praise Stryker Double-V Hull; 'Jury Still Out' On More Purchases

InsideDefense.com
March 05, 2012


Army Leaders Praise Stryker Double-V Hull; 'Jury Still Out' On More Purchases

Army leaders last week praised the performance of Stryker vehicles equipped with double-v hulls against improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan, but whether the service will buy more of them is still under review.

The Army plans to build and field two brigades' worth of the modified Strykers -- a total of 760 -- as requested by commanders in southern Afghanistan. Almost 300 are already fielded; the rest will be built by the end of the year, according to Lt. Gen. William Phillips, the military deputy to the Army's acting acquisition chief Heidi Shyu.

DVH Strykers have been involved in 40 IED incidents so far, and only two led to casualties, Phillips said during a March 2 conference call with reporters. In the other cases, "all of the soldiers essentially walked away with just minor injuries," he said.

According to Phillips, a Stryker DVH closely resembles the unmodified version of the vehicle. "You almost can't tell the difference," he said. The DVH underbody is characterized by a "series of double-Vs" that serve to dissipate the blast caused by IEDs, he added. Phillips also lauded the quick-turnaround time in repairing DVH vehicles torn open by IEDs: The average time to reset a vehicle, which is done in Qatar, is 60 days.

Whether it makes sense to buy more DVH vehicles from manufacturer General Dynamics, and whether the Army can afford them, is wrapped up in an analysis of the composition of brigade combat teams. At issue is how many maneuver battalions will be resident in Army BCTs, how many vehicles they will need and what kinds, according to Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo, the director of force development in the G-8 branch at Army headquarters.

"Everything is on the table," Cucolo said. This includes the possibility of a "mixed fleet" of Bradleys, tanks, Strykers and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles "all in the same unit," he said.



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