New Stryker Faring Poorly in Field

www.military.com...

BAQUBAH, Iraq - The newest version of the Army’s popular Stryker combat vehicle is garnering poor reviews here from Soldiers assigned to man its tank-like hull.

But while the system looks good on paper and the Army’s all for it, Soldiers with the 4th Battalion of the 9th Infantry Regiment -- one of the first units to receive the new vehicle for their deployment to Iraq -- don’t have a lot of good things to say about it.

well this says it all

"I wish [the enemy] would just blow mine up so I could be done with it," said Spec. Kyle Handrahan, 22, of Anaheim, Calif., a tanker assigned to Alpha Company, 4/9’s MGS platoon.

"It’s a piece," another MGS platoon member chimed in. "Nothing works on it."

the troops using it don`t like it at all , over weight , over complicated and a POS apparantly.

I have to agree. Better to equip new HUMMERS with armor and M240s. The stryker and that vert takeoff troop transport thing the usmc is putting in the field suck.

Stryker is POS. Buddy of mine was scared to death they were going to take his M113 away and stick him in the Stryker. He ended up first in a armored Humvee and now an MRAP. Stryker makes as much sense as the Battle Cruisers of the early twentieth century. Well armed enough to kill anything it can't catch, fast enough to catch anything that will kill it. Stryker can add; piss ass poor for urban combat and too high tech to be worth deploying. Simplicity still rules the battlefield.

Their talking about the MGS Platform, which still has some kinks to be worked out. But the Stryker itself is a fine vehicle in my opinion after reading some reviews from soldiers, most criticisms seem to be about the MGS platform.

Gripes about MGS Platform

There are alot of posts in that blog that seem to substantiate this. As well as quotes from soldiers who like the concept, its the implementation that's the problem. Many seem to think that mounting an ATGM launcher or a Carl G instead of the 105mm cannon would be more effective due to the physics of mounting such a large weapon on the stryker. The stryker isn't the problem its this specific variant that is the problem. The troops seem to like the mortar carrier variant as well as the infantry carrier. But the MGS platform definitely needs some kind of reworking to the weapons package and system.

[edit on 2/2/2008 by ludaChris]

reply to post by ludaChris


you are spot on ludaChris.
The USA trying to make super striker.
A smaller weapon like 76mm fapid rire or the 40mm bofors or maybe something a little larger.
105mm u might as well deploy old M-60 tanks.

United States already use 76mm.
The Mk 75 in use aboard USCGC Gallatin, 2005 Bear-class medium endurance cutter (USCG)
Hamilton-class high endurance cutter (USCG)
Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate (USA)
Pegasus-class hydrofoil (now de-commissioned) (USA)
en.wikipedia.org...
or
en.wikipedia.org...
A newer development from Breda, the Fast Forty, has nearly doubled the rate of fire to 450 rpm (2 × 450 in twin mount), normally equipped with a 736 round magazine and a dual feed mechanism for naval use.

or the newer bofors 57mm
The Bofors 57 mm gun is a dual-purpose naval gun. It is manufactured by Bofors Defence (now a part of BAE).
The gun can be loaded with 120 rounds and has a rate of fire about 220 shots/minute. The gun can change ammunition types quickly and together these attributes makes the gun very suitable for fighting both aerial and naval targets. The gun is normally computer aimed, which gives it a very high accuracy, but it an also be aimed and maneuvered from panels placed on, or in direct contact with the gun.
The gun has been exported to a wide number of navies and is in use in e.g. Sweden, Finland, Canada, Mexico, Malaysia and Indonesia. The Mk 3 version is also intended for US naval service as the Mk 110
en.wikipedia.org...
United States:
USCG: Legend class
USN: Zumwalt class and Freedom class

First I can't believe, someone would rather be in a M113 than a stryker. Maybe because they are a Fobbit and are in a M113 base and don't go off base, and the Strykers do?????

I had a brother and a nephew serve in Strykers.

They were built to bring troops up to the front quickly, so the are not a perfect fit for patrols in Iraq. But better than most.

But a group of 4 strykers brings much more fire power(as in American troops able to engage.) to a scene and protects much better than a M113 or a HUMVEE. 4 Humvees do not even come close to the protection or the firepower of the number dismounted troops.

The Stryker is not perfect, but when delta force and other special ops "borrowed" some equipement. Guess what vechicle the took....Strykers.

reply to post by Jezza


or how about hte Mk44 Bushmaster 30mm chaingun. Saw this demonstrated on future weapons and it is pretty impressive. Has a dual feed system that allows almost instantaneous changing of the type of round fired from HE to AP with the flick of a switch. It also fires an airburst round and after watching it tear throug reinforced concrete(8in) and absolutely destroy a van with just a 4 round burst, I think this should be at least considered. There is also a 40mm variant, but that would be overkill on anything but a tank.

The Stryker surely isn't perfect, but it's better than the M113 which pretty much ignites when hit with heavy weapons. It shows great promise and after lessons are learned from the Iraq deployment it should be significantly improved.

Mk44 Bushmaster

Mk44 Bushmaster 30mm chaingun any day.
I wonder if u could retofit it on older 25mm platforms as an upgrade.
Nice video ludaChris.

reply to post by sbob




Yeah, he got that a lot. A mutual friend of ours from Fort Lewis got one in '03 I think? He griped a lot about it. M113 guy rode an M113 for years in regular service back in the late 80's and then in the 90's. He re-signed in '01 and trained again in the M113. Old habits die hard and old 12 bravo's drive M113's. Poor guy is 42 being bossed around by 20 yr olds!

Don't knock the M113 too much though. I road the A3 and loved it in my short time. A lot of folks love the thing because they are so versatile. They have been heavily upgraded for Iraq from what I hear. RPG cages and such.

Edit due to gas mask and tin foil hat disrupting typing skills

[edit on 5-2-2008 by Tinhatman]

The Americans should use Cougars/Mastiffs to move people around.
www.defense-update.com...
And some thing like an up-graded M113 like this to patrol the streets, it's called a Bulldog.
www.mod.uk...



[edit on 6-2-2008 by SKUNK2]

www.washingtonpost.com...

But in more than a dozen interviews, commanders, soldiers and mechanics who use the Stryker fleet daily in one of Iraq's most dangerous areas unanimously praised the vehicle. The defects outlined in the report were either wrong or relatively minor and did little to hamper the Stryker's effectiveness, they said.

-dyn/articles/A22009-2005Apr2.html

www.defensetech.org...

an update from the original author - lots of arguements both sides it would seem


(im famous www.defenseindustrydaily.com... thats me they credit at the bottom )