Stryker vehicles can protect troops better
15 August 2011
Newly designed Stryker combat vehicles used by Army brigades in Afghanistan resist bomb blasts that had routinely shredded other vehicles and the soldiers in them, according to military and civilian officials and documents.
Strykers with new V-shaped hulls were rushed to Afghanistan after two years in which the 5th Stryker Combat Brigade lost 37 soldiers and saw 239 wounded. In one attack in October 2009, a roadside bomb obliterated a flat-bottomed Stryker, killing seven soldiers.
The new Strykers began arriving in the spring, and on July 8, one was struck by an insurgent bomb. All of the soldiers survived and returned to duty, according to civilian and military officials who spoke about the incident on condition of anonymity because some details of the attack are classified.
Since then, there have been additional attacks, and the new Strykers have provided far better protection than the old models, the officials said.
"This is a case study in how to deal with a rapidly changing insurgency," said Loren Thompson, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute and a defense industry consultant. "You can't go through normal process. You must quickly turn around relatively low-cost solutions if you want to win the war."
Strykers are eight-wheeled armored vehicles that provide transport and firepower for brigades of 3,500 infantry troops. In size and power they are between a tank and a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle, which is used primarily for transport. Six active-duty brigades use Strykers as does one reserve unit. Two more brigades are planned for 2013.
Until this year, Strykers have had flat bottoms, which absorb the force of an explosion. The V-shaped hulls of MRAPs, which deflect the force of blasts, have been credited by the Pentagon with saving thousands of lives in Afghanistan and Iraq. The new Stryker, which has lower ground clearance than an MRAP, is outfitted with two, shallower V-shaped hulls.
The Army wants 150 of the new Strykers, which cost $2.3 million each, in service by the end of summer. It has orders for 450 of them. There are thousands of MRAPs in Afghanistan.
The influx of new vehicles comes as insurgents have increasingly turned to improvised explosive devices as the No.1 weapon against U.S. troops.
From April through June, U.S. troops encountered 3,845 bombs, a 14% increase over the same period in 2010. Casualties from attacks on vehicles dropped 10% compared with the same period in 2010, according to the Pentagon's Joint IED Defeat Organization.
Troops on foot patrols are seeing an increase in casualties from IEDs as more service members were deployed into villages and rural areas to root out Taliban insurgents. IED attacks on so-called dismounted troops jumped nearly 60% this past spring compared with spring 2010, according to Pentagon data.
The Pentagon has responded to urgent requests from commanders for equipment to protect troops on foot patrol by sending hand-held mine detectors, bomb-sniffing dogs and underwear that prevents debris from puncturing the abdomens of troops who step on bombs. (Source: USA Today)
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