Stryker- the future?, page 1
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Topic started on 16-8-2004 @ 06:08 PM by PublicGadfly

Is this the future?
The Stryker is a family of vehicles that the U.S. Army touts as being the solution to the mobility now so lacking in urban warfare. The vehicle, whose extensive deficiencies are well known within the defense community because technical, bureaucratic and political reasons have allowed it to elude the Department of Defense’s Operational Test and Evaluation.

Is this another Sgt. York? $6.8Billion waisted then- how much now? The Sgt. York was the Army aid defense platform for the future.

I was in El Paso, TX many years past when the Sgt. York was going through its final quals (qualifications manuvers and certifications). The Army had already “pre-qualified” the York as “exceeding expectations.” The military press were enthusiastic. Local T.V. stations were on hand to capture the momentous event on film. El Paso, although large and heavily industrialized is still a military town (Ft. Bliss) at heart.

One of the T.V. News programs ran a “side shot.” There crew had not been able to reach the assigned area in time and decided to shoot at a distance. The tests were run and all were pronounced an unqualified success. Amid much hoopla the York downed the drones sent “””against””” it. That night all the stations ran their coverage.

The coverage from an angle showed a mysterious event- ALL the shells clearly missed! The drone did explode as if hit with something but clearly not by the York. By daylight the following day phone lines were hot and heavy. The T.V. station surrendered its tape “for national security” reasons and the spin machine went to work.

For a short time the military “press corps” won. Then a classic American thing happened- someone happened to have some photos! Like the Zapruder tape during the Kennedy assassination when the public is involved there is always a camera.

Heads rolled, programs were cancelled and careers were over. I wonder if there is a Zapruder for the Stryker?

The US Army page returns a “file not found” error. Yet the Abrams page and others seem to work fine.

Back to the Stryker- is it the “cure all?” Or, is the another military boondoogle?

[edit on 17/8/2004 by PublicGadfly]


reply posted on 17-8-2004 @ 02:03 PM by The Vagabond
Originally posted by longbow
I think Stryker costs 1.8 mil$ not 2.8 mil. But it's still too expensive. In order to be effective the Stryker needs to cost UNDER 1 Mil.$, otherwise it is just waste of money. I really don't know why it should be so expensive. 4wheel armored truck with 1 light fifty gun and FLIR. Bingo. Maybe some high tech bettlefield internet gadgets, but I really don't know why should it cost that much.

Everything is so bloody expensive that it threatens to get us beat in a major war. What Saddam should have done (considering his extremely limited options) was commandeer vehicles of every type and arm them with any and all available heavy weapons which may be able to penetrate IFV armor at close range. You throw them at us in huge numbers, say 10:1 against our forces, with the mission of destroying american IFVs. We can't replace them that fast, so you've slowed America's tempo by eliminating high-speed/high-mobility combined arms ability.

What the hell is so hard about an armored truck with a Ma-Duece and a couple of gun-ports? Not only are they cheap, but when they're outdated you can sell them to Brinks! If you need a bigger main armament I've got an answer for that too (in fact I think it's a good idea either way). They need to work out a 25mm cannon variant which can be broken down and carried by a weapons company.
1. You get a new infantry weapon which plays hell with most vehicles and at close range has been successful against Iraqi tanks (i think up to 64's, but there's a slim chance it was 72s)
2. You have brought the effects mass production to an otherwise expensive weapon which you want to use on your new low-cost urban IFV (aka armored truck).
3. It would certainly be a real bear to carry, and it would shut the 0331s up about how bad the Mk19 is.

No TOWs, No reactive armor, no microwave communications and digital battlefield BS. Just a truck with enough metal to bounce off a .50 cal, RPG, or mortar. If you want "digitized forces" then get it from GM and ask for OnStar- I bet the boys in Mogadishu would have loved that, if you've seen Black Hawk Down. This is a -truck- it's for taking people places. It doesn't have to fill every role because it's going to be surrounded by other vehicles which have their own roles!


And my second question : doesn't Stryker violate the Buy-American Act? (buing the military items from US). I think some Strykers are produced in Canada and the company is Canadian. This is not a component or something special that USA cannot make. Also the H&K's XM-8 will be produced in USA.
So why it is different by Stryker?


I wasn't even aware of such a rule. I'm pretty sure that the Germans make our tank and artillery barrels. (Actually I think Rhinemetal provides cannons for 3 or 4 of Kozzy's top 5 rated tanks. It should be 4 for sure once Chally gives up HESH and gets a smoothbore. Merkava 4 will be the only holdout.)
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