Jury Still Out On US Army Strykers

Jane's
March 07,2012


Jury Still Out On US Army Strykers

Key Points
• Stryker DVH production is set to be complete in December 2012 and the army is mulling if two brigades' worth is adequate.
• Upgrades are also possible as the more heavily armored variants could suffer from degraded performance.

The US Army is wrapping up production of the Stryker Double-V Hull (SDVH) combat vehicles that were rapidly designed and deployed to protect against explosive threats in Afghanistan, and is still mulling the future posture of its Stryker fleet.

"We want to end up eventually with two brigades of Stryker Double-V Hulls," Lieutenant General William Phillips, military deputy to the army's acquisition executive, told reporters during a 2 March media roundtable.

"We have almost 300 [SDVH] vehicles fielded to soldiers in combat today and we'll continue to produce and field this vehicle" for a total of about 760 platforms, he said.

Lt Gen Phillips confirmed army plans to employ just over 330 SDVH vehicles per brigade, with 742 in fighting formations that would be ready for use.

However, production of SDVH will be completed in December and the army is still determining how many of the platforms it wants to buy or how it wants to upgrade its existing stocks.

"The jury is still out" as to whether the army has the acquisition appetite to buy more than two brigades' worth of SDVH vehicles, which was the total order requested from theatre, said Major General Anthony Cucolo, the director of force development for Army G-8.

Small numbers of flat-bottom Strykers - not as heavily armored as the SDVH - still operate in Afghanistan today, Maj Gen Cucolo said, adding that these legacy platforms could still play notable roles in the future as not all operating environments or missions will necessarily be exposed to threats from roadside improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Upgrade projects for the Stryker are also being proffered but, like any potential expansion of the SDVH fleet, are subject to budget restraints.

Army Chief of Staff General Ray Odierno recently expressed concern that the Stryker was losing its mobility. He told an industry crowd in late February that "We've added so much weight to the Stryker, we can't get if off the damn roads".

Officials with Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) programme office said they are considering options to modernize the vehicles while recapturing some of the performance that has been traded for the heavier armor.

A new suspension system and upgrades to the powerpack could take the engine up to the 400 hp range and better handle the extra weight, with an eye toward regaining some of the lost acceleration and speed.



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