Stryker

The IAV (Interim Armored Vehicle) Stryker is a family of eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicles derived from the Canadian LAV III. Stryker vehicles are produced by General Dynamics Land Systems Canada for the United States Army. It has 4-wheel drive (8×4) and can be switched to all-wheel drive (8×8). The vehicle is named for two unrelated U.S. soldiers who posthumously received the Medal of Honor: Private First Class Stuart S. Stryker, who died in World War II, and Specialist Four Robert F. Stryker, who died in the Vietnam War. In October 1999, General Eric Shinseki, then U.S. Army Chief of Staff, outlined a transformation plan for the army that would allow it to adapt to post-Cold War conditions. The plan, named 'Objective Force', would have the army adopt a flexible doctrine that would allow it to deploy quickly, and be equipped for a variety of operations. An early phase of the plan called for the introduction of an 'Interim Armored Vehicle', which was intended to fill the capability gap between heavy and lethal but not easily deployable vehicles, such as the M2 Bradley, and easily deployable vehicles that are lightly armed and protected, such as the Humvee. It was called the 'Interim' Armored Vehicle because it was initially supposed to be a temporary measure until light air-mobile vehicles from the Future Combat Systems Manned Ground Vehicles program came online, none of which did before the program was canceled. Nearly a year and a half behind schedule, the General Motors–General Dynamics team was awarded the $8 billion contract in November 2000 to produce 2,131 vehicles of a variant of the Canadian LAV III for equipping six rapid deployment Brigade Combat Teams by 2008. United Defense protested the contract award in December, saying their proposal cost less than half that of General Motors–General Dynamics. The General Accounting Office rejected the protest in April 2001. U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Army Paul J. Hoeper called the IAV 'the best off-the-shelf equipment available in the world in this class', though many in the Army openly wondered whether the vehicles were underclassed compared to the vehicles they might face in battle. On 27 February 2002, the Army formally renamed the Interim Armored Vehicle the Stryker. In 2002, as the Stryker program faced criticism from lawmakers, including Congressman Newt Gingrich, Pentagon officials mulled reducing the number of planned Stryker Brigade Combat Teams from six to three for a cost savings of $4.5 billion. In October, the Stryker's C-130 air mobility was demonstrated for lawmakers at Andrews Air Force Base. At the Association of the United States Army, Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki defended the six-brigade plan and boasted that the C-130 could carry a Stryker every way but sideways. Four brigades were funded in the DoD's budget proposal for fiscal year 2004, with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld deferring a decision on two additional until July 2003. In May, the Army readied the Stryker for initial operating capability at Fort Polk. The New York Times noted the swiftness with which the program had proceeded from its inception in 1999. In November 2003, 311 Stryker vehicles were deployed in the Iraq War, where they saw mixed success. Never designed for front-line combat, the vehicles were nevertheless pressed into counterinsurgency roles for which there was an unmet need. Unexpectedly fierce resistance by insurgents prompted field upgrades to the vehicle's armor. To counter the threat of rocket-propelled grenades, General Dynamics developed slat armor, which added 5,000 lbs to the vehicle weight. The upgrades came at a cost: In addition to hindering mobility in the field, the additional weight ruled out transporting the vehicle by C-130.