Thursday, June 18, 2009

DTN News: U.S. Army Considers More Stryker Armored Vehicle

DTN News: U.S. Army Considers More Stryker Armored Vehicle
*Sources: DTN News / Int'l Media
(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - June 18, 2009: U.S. Army leaders told lawmakers the service may add more Stryker brigades to the inventory during a June 16 Senate Subcommittee on Airland hearing. The IAV Stryker is a family of eight-wheeled all-wheel-drive armored combat vehicles produced by General Dynamics Land Systems, in use by the United States Army. Based on the Canadian LAV III light-armored vehicle, which in turn is based on the Swiss MOWAG Piranha III 8x8, the Stryker is the U.S. Army's first new armored vehicle since the M2/M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle in the 1980s. "There are about 3,600 Stryker vehicles, and over 2,700 have been fielded to-date. There are seven Stryker brigades. One of the things the Army is looking at in terms of force structure is, do we need more Stryker brigades to provide a balanced force with different capabilities across the spectrum?" said U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ross Thompson, military deputy to the Asst. Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology. At the same time, Thompson said even if new Stryker brigades are added to the service's fleet of vehicles, there will still be a strong need for new vehicles and technologies to be developed. "There are 16,000 combat vehicles in the Army inventory. We will need to replace some of these existing systems at some point in time, such as Bradleys, Strykers, M113s and tanks," he said. This picture provided by the Washington State Patrol shows an Army Stryker vehicle after a collision with a pickup truck on a public road near Spanaway, Wash. , near Fort Lewis, Wash. The pickup truck driver was killed.
As part of this effort, Army leaders told lawmakers of their plans to build a new series of Ground Combat Vehicles to follow the recent cancellation of the 27-ton Manned Ground Vehicles. "We are working very hard on the Ground Combat Vehicle. I would not be surprised if we see a family of vehicles," said Gen. Peter Chiarelli, Army Vice Chief of Staff.

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