Army rolls out Stryker vehicles
| • | Chart (opens in new window): Stryker: Designed for many missions |
By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Washington Bureau
FORT POLK, La. — Scouts from Raider platoon slowly pull their Stryker reconnaissance vehicle off a dirt road, kill the engine, and take cover in the trees. It is not too long after dark, but with clouds shielding the moon, everything outside is black except for the sparkle of fireflies.
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Inside the Stryker, Lt. Gerry Resmondo taps on a keyboard. On the computer screen is a map and grid, with blue circles that track the position of Army troops and red diamonds to mark the enemy. Instead of sending scouts into the unknown, Resmondo can use the latest intelligence — from satellites to ground radar, field sensors, thermal imagery and unmanned aerial vehicles — to get a good idea of what the battlefield looks like before leading his scouts out on foot to set up an observation post.
The Stryker has more firepower than a Humvee and is more agile than other tanks, like the Abrams tank or Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle.
"From here," he says, "I can connect with everyone else in the entire brigade."
The Stryker, an eight-wheeled armored vehicle that can morph into 10 different combat and support configurations, is the bridge between the Army's past and its future. As the Defense Department evaluates the project's future, a Stryker brigade for Hawai'i is under consideration.
With more firepower and digital wizardry than a Humvee and more agility than the Abrams tank or Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, the Stryker is the star of nimble new combat brigades that could be deployed much faster than the Army's traditional, equipment-heavy force.
The brigades, each with about 300 Stryker vehicles and 3,600 soldiers, are a transitional step for the Army as it prepares to respond to multiple, unconventional threats around the globe. Commanders will use the brigades as a step toward a mobile, lethal force that ultimately could deploy a combat-ready brigade in four days and a division within weeks, instead of the months it takes now.
"It's a new way to fight," said Col. William Grisoli, deputy director for Army transformation.
Army commanders want to have six Stryker brigades ready by the end of the decade, but even as the first brigade completes its final combat exercises at Fort Polk, the Pentagon is evaluating whether to reshape, or perhaps even drop, some of the brigades.
The first four — two based at Fort Lewis, Wash., one at Fort Richardson, Alaska, and one at Fort Polk — are on track. The last two, at Schofield Barracks in Hawai'i and at the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, are still under review.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is expected to decide this summer how the Army will proceed. The Pentagon could choose to modify the brigades with stronger air or artillery components, which would make them more powerful, if slower to deploy.
Named for two Medal of Honor recipients — Pfc. Stuart Stryker, killed while charging the Germans in World War II, and Spc. Robert Stryker, killed after throwing himself on a mine to save his squad in Vietnam — the $1.5 million Stryker weighs 19 tons and can reach speeds faster than 60 mph.
Its armor can withstand up to 14.5 mm fire, and the Army is developing add-on armor that can protect the vehicles against rocket-propelled grenades. Although not designed for heavy combat, different Stryker variations are armed with .50-caliber machine guns, 40 mm grenade launchers, a range of mortar power, tank-busting Javelin missiles and TOW guided missiles.
The real strength of the brigades, according to the Army, is the potential to give commanders greater awareness on the battlefield and flexibility to quickly adapt and maneuver troops.
"They will know where they are. They will know where their buddies are. They will know where the bad guys are," said Maj. Harris Morris, who is helping to coordinate the inaugural Stryker brigade, the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, at Fort Lewis.
The Army intends to move the brigades by air and sea, but there is some doubt about how quickly the brigades can deploy. A Rand study found that by positioning some equipment in advance in Europe, Guam in the Pacific, and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, Stryker brigades could be deployed to key regions five to 14 days after leaving their home base.
In Congress, lawmakers have pressured Defense Department officials over whether Stryker vehicles can be carried by C-130 aircraft, a significant selling point when lawmakers originally approved money for the brigades.
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A single Stryker can barely fit on a C-130 now and would not fit at all with the additional armor that will be standard by the time the third brigade rolls out. The Army wants to use the C-130 to land Stryker vehicles at makeshift or seized airfields that are not suitable for the larger C-17s, which can carry three Stryker vehicles.
Lt. Col. Jim Cashwell of the 1-14 Cavalry Squadron from Fort Lewis, Wash., prepares to test the Stryker at Fort Polk, La.
At a House Armed Services Committee hearing in April, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., the committee's chairman, said: "We're not saying it was a bad deal, we're just saying that in some cases the wheels can't leave the runway."
Pete Aldridge, Defense undersecretary for acquisition, told the committee that the Stryker got heavier as it was developed because of what he called "requirements creep."
The Stryker brigades would most likely follow airborne and special forces into battle, serving as an intermediate force before heavier artillery arrives or quelling smaller or unconventional urban conflicts with help from air power.
Army commanders said the Stryker would have been ideal on patrol in Kosovo or in northern Iraq, where it could have been delivered by air after the 4th Infantry Division was denied access through Turkey.
Congress ordered the Defense Department to formally certify the Stryker brigade's combat readiness before deploying any of the first three brigades overseas or procuring a fourth brigade. The Defense Department is expected to report to Congress this summer.
In April, the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, left Fort Lewis for war games at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif., where it fought off an invading force in a high-intensity mock battle in the desert. This month, the brigade moved to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk for a mid- to low-intensity fight against invading and rebel soldiers in forest, swamp and urban conditions.
Soldiers who were part of the exercises said the Stryker performed exceptionally well in desert and urban settings. Compared with other armored vehicles, the ride is smooth and remarkably quiet, an advantage in preserving tactical surprise.
But the vehicles may have some trouble on uneven or hilly terrain, especially in muddy or soft surfaces where its tires may lose traction. During a 48-hour ride-along with Raider platoon May 16 to May 18, soldiers inside the Strykers often had difficulty establishing and maintaining radio contact with scouts in the field. Army officials will use lessons learned from the war games to make improvements to the brigades and have decided to add more armor to further protect the wheel well.
"We have to fix them to fight them," Sgt. Daniel Neary said.
