Combat proves Stryker's worth but also reveals its shortcomings

[Barrett808]

Combat proves Stryker's worth but also reveals its shortcomings
By Hal Bernton and Alex Fryer
Seattle Times staff reporters

CRIS BOURONCLE / AFP / Getty Images Two Iraqi women in Mosul approach a Stryker armored vehicle guarding the area. Only about 300 Strykers are in Iraq, compared to more than 20,000 Army and Marine Humvees, the most widely used patrol vehicle.

On a March afternoon in Tal Afar, an Iraqi insurgent bomb scored a direct hit on the Army's newest combat vehicle, an eight-wheeled Stryker weighing more than 20 tons.

1st Sgt. Jason Roach recalls the Stryker bucking like a bronco as the massive blast ripped a 3-foot-long hole in the floor of the crew compartment.

Roach's legs were shattered in 14 places, and two other soldiers suffered grievous wounds as they were hurled out of the wrecked vehicle. But no one died. And today, Roach's faith in the Stryker remains intact.

"If I hadn't been in a Stryker, they probably would have been looking for body pieces," said Roach, who is stationed at Fort Lewis. "I would never want to go back in anything but a Stryker. I swear by them."

(more)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002705908_stryker27m.html

[necso]

1. Check out the cage

installed around the body.

As I understand it, the original design couldn't stop RPGs (Rocket Propelled Grenades -- almost as common as AKs on the modern battlefield), so this cage was added on. (With certain consequences, no doubt.)

And to get some idea of the in-field utility of the vehicle, check out the modifications made by troops using them.

Moreover, the implied comparison to the Humvee (a jeep replacement more or less) is off-base. The Stryker is basically an APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) -- which the US seems to have a great deal of trouble designing.

[Kagemusha]

2. So in other words all the Grozny assault solutions.

Which critics (I count myself as one) predicted would be done in defiance of the brass because "extra weight" becomes a good thing in the field once a high speed APC wannabe gets used for low speed urban crawl. At least the communications stuff seems to have helped keep this unit running smoothly.

But Mosul isn't fully pacified by any means.

[necso]

3. As a general rule,

troops will try to keep from getting killed and wounded, particularly where they can increase their odds by using some field-expedient solution.

And yeah, the Stryker's high-tech... high-tech being the great white* hope of "think" tank militarists. But I think that the "mission" embodied in it represents fuzzy thinking at best, an emphasis on air transport that just isn't realistic, and inadequate consideration of weapons mix and cross-support.

*: As in "clean" -- and as opposed to large numbers of grunting, farting, dirty, pissed-off, dismounted infantrymen. (With adequate heavy weapons support, of course.)

[bemildred]

9. They are much too expensive for the intended use.

Nothing will fix that. The idea that the way to win wars is to throw as much money as possible at them, while attractive to defense contractors, is lunatic in the military sense.

[blackhorse]

10. The U.S. and wheeled combat vehicles

"The Stryker is basically an APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) -- which the US seems to have a great deal of trouble designing."

Yeah, and it lacks an automatic cannon, IIRC. The U.S. should have just gotten a license from Russia to build BTR-80s.

I would extend your statement to say that the U.S. Army has never been a fan of any wheeled combat vehicles, which is why one sees very few armored cars in U.S. service. Tracked vehicles are preferred, but they cost a lot and have heavier maintenance requirements.

Cheers

BH

[saigon68]

4. They will just build a BIGGER bomb

These people like Roach have a death wish I knew a lot of these cowboy War Criminals in a prior life. I wonder how many chidren this guy killed?

[tspud1]

5. do you know Roach?

You don't even know this guy and you call him a War criminal and ask if he has shot children! How does that help
any argument against the war?

[pocket]

7. He's a soldier in a criminal war

you do the math.

[aikoaiko]

11. if you and Saigon pay US taxes then you pay this soldier...

.... and by your logic that makes you a war criminal too.

:hi:

[saigon68]

13. adios

Vaya Con Dios

[hack89]

6. What kind of soldiers did you serve with?

what kind of soldier were you?

[occuserpens]

8. How to sell a Stryker

Imagine somebody selling a very advanced PDA for $3K. Why so expensive? Because it is much better than any graphical calculator the world has ever seen. Never mind that one can buy a couple of nice laptops for this price, your beloved kid deserves only the best. Or maybe you just don't love your kid after all?

This is pretty much how news hacks from STimes sell the absurdly expensive APC Stryker ($2M according to STimes, but most likely more) with its dubious service record in Iraq. Their main argument is that Stryker protects its crew better than the Humvee. The problem is, Humvee belongs to completely different class than Stryker, basically, it is military SUV, not APC. The correct comparison would be M113 known ever since the 1960-ies!

However, "fair and balanced" STimes sells Strykers, not any other piece of military hardware. Also, they sell the goodies not to professionals, but to clueless rightist dems like Lieberman or Hillary Clinton who could not care less about technical characteristics of what they are voting for. With all this in mind, calling the article /1/ stupid would be as wrong as it gets.

Quite on the contrary, STimes sales design is very intelligent. For starters, it is well protected against accusations of war profiteering, it takes a blogger to question this kind of deals nowadays :-(

1. STimes. Hal Bernton, Alex Fryer. Combat proves Stryker's worth but also reveals its shortcomings: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002705908_stryker27m.html

2. Wiki on APC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armored_personnel_carrier

3. Wiki on Stryker: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stryker

4. Wiki on M113: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M113

5. Wiki on Humvee: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humvee

6. Permanent location of this comment: http://inplainview.monitor.us.tt/comm.InterUS.htm

[The_Casual_Observer]

12. Stryker is a piece of shit intended for transporting drone enemy

occupiers around in socially hostile environments. The occupied quickly exploit it's weaknesses by trial and error.

[saigon68]

14. With bigger bombs

that go BOOM