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]