During the reform of the US armed forces in the nineties, the military faced the issue of equipping with armored vehicles. According to the new concept, the ground forces were to be divided into three types of units, depending on their equipment. It was proposed to equip heavy divisions and brigades with tanks, light infantry - armored personnel carriers of the M113 family and light armored vehicles. At the same time, the issue of equipping medium (they are also often called intermediate) divisions / brigades remained open. Various proposals were heard, but in the end, a promising wheeled armored vehicle was recognized as the optimal technique for medium-sized units. In addition, a platform machine was required, on the basis of which it was possible to create equipment for various purposes. Perhaps the US Army spied the idea of such armored vehicles from the Marine Corps, which by that time had been operating the LAV family of armored vehicles, created on the basis of the MOWAG Piranha 8x8 armored car, for more than ten years.
History and construction
To carry out a deep modernization of the Swiss-Canadian machine, two of the largest US defense concerns were involved: General Dynamics and General Motors. At different stages in the project, dubbed IAV (Interim Armored Vehicle - "Interim armored vehicle"), various divisions of these companies participated. At the same time, the main work was entrusted to the Canadian branch of General Dynamics Land Systems, which was previously an independent company GMC and developed armored vehicles of the LAV family. The terms of reference for the new machines were issued at the very beginning of 2000. Around the same time, the IAV program received another name - Stryker. According to the American tradition of naming armored vehicles, the new platform was named after the famous military. And this time in honor of two at once. These are Private First Class Stuart S. Stryker, who died in March 1945, and Specialist Fourth Rank Robert F. Stryker, who did not return from Vietnam. For their heroism, both Strikers were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest US military honor.
When creating the Stryker armored platform, the maximum possible amount of developments available from the former GMC was used. For this reason, for example, the overall layout and body contours of the new protected vehicle remained almost the same as that of the LAV. The front right side of the armored hull houses a 350 horsepower Caterpillar C7 diesel engine. The Allison 3200SP transmission sends engine torque to all eight wheels. In this case, a special pneumatic mechanism, at the command of the driver, can turn off the front four wheels. This mode of operation with an 8x4 wheel arrangement is used for high-speed traffic on the highway. In the case of the basic model of an armored personnel carrier (combat weight of the order of 16, 5 tons), a 350-horsepower engine provides a speed of up to one hundred kilometers per hour on the highway. Other variants of the "Stryker", having a large combat weight, are not capable of accelerating to such speeds and are slightly inferior in this parameter to the basic armored personnel carrier. The fuel supply is enough for a march up to 500 kilometers long. The wheel suspension system is borrowed from the LAV without significant changes. The front four wheels received a spring suspension, the rear - a torsion bar. Due to the expected large weight of the family of vehicles, the suspension elements were slightly reinforced. As it turned out later, the gain was insufficient.
The armored body of the Stryker vehicles is also a further development of the LAV project, however, it has a number of significant differences. First of all, it is worth noting the great height of the case. To ensure the convenience of placing the crew, troops, ammunition, etc., as well as to protect against mine explosions, it was necessary to rework the bottom profile and, as a result, increase the height of the hull. The latter was done to compensate for the volume "stolen" by the V-shaped bottom. As a result, the overall height of the basic armored personnel carrier (on the roof) was 25-30 centimeters higher than that of the LAV vehicle. The increase in the height of the hull affected its contours. Its upper part outwardly differs significantly from the Canadian armored personnel carrier - the upper frontal part is longer and joins the roof further, almost in front of the second axle. The Stryker's armored hull is welded from panels up to 12 millimeters thick. Due to the use of different grades of steel, protection is achieved that corresponds to the fourth level of the STANAG 4569 standard in the frontal projection and the second or third from all other directions. In other words, the "native" frontal plates of the Stryker machine withstand the hit of armor-piercing bullets of 14.5 mm caliber and fragments of a 155-mm projectile that exploded at a distance of about 30 meters. The sides and stern, in turn, protect the crew, troops and internal units only from armor-piercing bullets of 7.62 mm caliber. In general, such protection indicators are not something special, but they were considered sufficient and optimal in relation to the weight of the structure. Even at the initial design stage, it was possible to install additional booking. All machines of the Stryker family can be equipped with a MEXAS protection system manufactured by the German company IBD Deisenroth. When installing metal-ceramic panels, the level of protection is significantly improved. The sides and stern of the vehicle in this case withstand the hit of bullets of caliber 14, 5 mm, and the frontal parts - the hit of 30-mm shells.
Modifications
The armament of Stryker vehicles depends on the specific model, its spectrum is quite diverse. The weapon systems should be considered in the light of the existing armored vehicles of the family.
- M1126 ICV. The Infantry Combat Vehicle is a basic armored vehicle. Carries a crew of two and has nine seats for the landing. In the stern there is a folding ramp for embarkation and disembarkation. The light ICV turret can be equipped with an M2HB heavy machine gun or an Mk.19 automatic grenade launcher. In addition, there are accessories for mounting a rifle caliber machine gun, for example, M240;
- M1127 RV. The Reconnaissance Vehicle is an armored reconnaissance vehicle. The armament complex is similar to the basic armored personnel carrier. At the same time, to transmit information about the progress of the reconnaissance raid, the M1127 has a crew of three (a radio operator was introduced), and the number of places for the landing was reduced to four;
- M1128 MGS. Mobile Gun System - "Mobile gun mount". Armored platform with an automatic turret mounted on it for the 105 mm M68A1 cannon. The rifled gun is housed in a relatively small, uninhabited turret and is equipped with an automatic loader. The main MGS ammunition, ready to fire, consists of 18 rounds. The fighting compartment can accommodate an additional amount of ammunition, but in this case, the crew will have to manually load them into the automatic loader. Secondary weapons - M2HB machine gun paired with a cannon and smoke grenade launchers. Of particular interest is the sighting complex of the M1128 machine. The crew of three is equipped with night vision devices and all-weather sights. In addition, all fire control actions are carried out using remote systems, which increases the survivability of the vehicle and crew. The firepower of the M1128 MGS is comparable to the M60 Patton tank;
- M1129 MC. Mortar Carrier is a self-propelled mortar. The troop compartment has a turntable and an Israeli-made 120-mm M6 mortar (aka Soltam K6). Ammunition boxes are also located here. The crew of the M1129 MC machine consists of five people. At the same time, only three people work directly with the mortar. With a rate of fire of up to five rounds per minute, the M1129 MC self-propelled mortar is capable of hitting targets with conventional mines at ranges of up to 7200 meters and active-reactive mines at distances of up to 10.5 km.
- M1130 CV. Command Vehicle - command post vehicle. The airborne compartment houses communications equipment and commanders' workplaces. Each company is entitled to two KShM M1130;
- M1131 FSV. Fire Support Vehicle is a reconnaissance and target designation vehicle. It differs from the basic M1126 armored personnel carrier only in the presence of additional communication equipment compatible with all NATO standards, as well as a set of equipment for conducting visual reconnaissance, including at night;
- M1132 ESV. Engineer Squad Vehicle is an engineering vehicle. Equipment for the installation and disposal of mines is installed on the chassis of the base Stryker. The main external difference from other machines of the family is the dozer blade. With its help, you can dig up mines or clear debris;
- M1133 MEV. Medical Evacuation Vehicle - Sanitary evacuation vehicle. In the rear of the hull, the armored car is equipped with a special armored unit of a rectangular shape. Inside it are places for the wounded. The internal volumes of the M1133 sanitary room can accommodate up to two doctors and up to six sedentary patients. If necessary, there is the possibility of transporting two lying wounded. The machine's own equipment allows for first aid and carries out a number of resuscitation measures. A set of medical equipment was selected in such a way that the M1133 crew could take soldiers to the hospital, even with severe wounds and injuries;
- M1134 ATGM. Anti-Tang Guilded Missile is an anti-tank vehicle with guided missiles. In this version, an Emerson TUA tower with two launchers for BGM-71 TOW missiles of later modifications is installed on a standard chassis. The maximum ammunition capacity of the AGTM vehicle reaches fifteen missiles;
- M1135 NBCRV. Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicle is a radiation, biological and chemical reconnaissance vehicle. The vehicle is devoid of any weapon systems, except for the crew's personal weapons. The crew of four itself works in a fully sealed enclosure and has the equipment necessary to identify signs of radiation, chemical or biological contamination. In addition, the NBCRV is equipped with communication facilities for fast transmission of infection data.
Operation results
By using the developments from the previous LAV project, General Dynamics Land Systems was able to quickly carry out all the design and test work. In the fall of 2002, the first armored vehicles of the Stryker family were put into service, and in November of the same year, General Motors and General Dynamics Land Systems received an order for the supply of 2,131 units of new equipment. The total cost of supplies exceeded $ 4 billion. The first copies of the machines entered the troops at the very beginning of the next 2003. In quantitative terms, the order of the armed forces was rather heterogeneous. Most of the ordered vehicles were to be built in the configuration of armored personnel carriers. The second largest are command and staff vehicles. Self-propelled mortars, reconnaissance, self-propelled guns and anti-tank "Strykers" were planned to be purchased in significantly smaller quantities.
Just a couple of months after the start of deliveries of new armored vehicles, the United States began a war against Iraq. After the end of the main hostilities, in October 2003, the transfer of units armed with Stryker armored vehicles to Iraq began. The fighters and equipment of the 3rd Brigade (2nd Infantry Division) from Fort Lewis were the first to go to the Middle East. Starting in November of the same year, they actively participated in maintaining order and patrolling various parts of Iraq. A year later, the 3rd brigade was replaced by the 1st brigade of the 25th division. Further, the change of "intermediate" units took place regularly, and over time, the service life was reduced: instead of a year, the soldiers began to stay in Iraq by half. By the time the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division arrived, the bulk of the war was over, and the opponents of NATO forces switched to guerrilla tactics. At this stage, due to its characteristic features, a number of design flaws and tactics of using the "Strikers" appeared. Even before the end of the work of the 3rd brigade, negative reviews of the new technology began to appear. By the end of 2004, a special Pentagon commission prepared a voluminous report on the results of the use of armored personnel carriers and other vehicles of the Stryker family in real combat conditions.
This report caused a lot of controversy, which almost led to the closure of the entire program. Practically all elements of the project were criticized by specialists, from the engine to the seat belts. The power plant and chassis of the Strykers were comfortable and fully suitable for driving on the highway, but when driving off-road, there were big problems. Due to the not very high power density (about 18-20 hp per ton of weight), even the basic armored personnel carrier sometimes elm in the sand and required outside help. Under certain conditions, it was necessary to "drive" the engine at maximum modes, which had a bad effect on its resource. In addition, wheel and suspension problems were common. As it turned out, the improvements made to the shock absorption and suspension were insufficient. The suspension resource turned out to be significantly less than the calculated one. Another problem with the undercarriage was caused by the relatively large combat mass. Because of it, the wheels taken from the LAV required regular and frequent pumping, which is not entirely acceptable for operation in combat conditions. Finally, there were cases when, after a couple of days of active use of the car in not the most difficult conditions, there was a need to replace tires. All this was the reason for the recommendation to strengthen the structure of the undercarriage.
The second major complaint was about the level of protection. The Stryker's armored corps was designed to protect against small arms bullets. If necessary, it was possible to use hinged armor. However, in real conditions, the enemy preferred to fire at armored personnel carriers not from machine guns and machine guns, but from anti-tank grenade launchers. Despite the considerable age of the Soviet RPG-7s, they were actively used by the Iraqi armed forces. It is quite obvious that even the additional ceramic-metal panels did not provide protection against such threats. Even before the end of the preparation of the report, several vehicles of the 3rd brigade were equipped with anti-cumulative grilles. Lattice panels were hung on MEXAS armor mounts. With the use of grilles, the level of protection against cumulative ammunition increased significantly, although they did not become a panacea. The number of damage to the hull was reduced, but it was not possible to completely get rid of them. Nevertheless, the anti-cumulative grilles had one unpleasant side effect - the protective structure turned out to be quite heavy, which deteriorated driving performance. The same was said in the report about additional MEXAS panels. As for the V-shaped mine bottom, there were almost no complaints about it. It coped well with its tasks and deflected the blast wave aside. At the same time, it was noted that mine protection copes only with those explosive devices for which it is designed: up to ten kilograms in TNT equivalent.
Another safety issue was complex and concerned several aspects of the structure at once. The Strikers had a relatively high center of gravity. Under certain conditions, this could lead to a car overturn. In total, over the years of operation of armored vehicles of this family, several dozen such cases were recorded, both due to an explosion under the bottom or a wheel, and because of difficult road conditions. In general, the increased likelihood of falling on its side was not something particularly dangerous that required special attention beyond the relevant points in the driving manual of the car. However, in the first few months of using the Stryker armored personnel carrier in Iraq, three soldiers died when the equipment was turned over. The cause of these incidents was attributed to the incorrect design of the seat belts of the crew and troops. As it turned out, they firmly held the person only with small jolts. Under severe overload, the used belts were useless, which ultimately led to casualties.
The complex of weapons, in general, did not cause any special complaints. The only requirement was to add a limiter for the automatic grenade launcher. At a certain position of the barrel, an accidental shot could lead to a grenade hitting the commander's or driver's hatch. Fortunately, there were no such incidents, but the precaution with the limiter was considered important and necessary. As for the poor accuracy and accuracy of the Mk.19 grenade launcher when firing on the move, they are no longer news and were mentioned in the report only in passing, as an inevitable evil. The Strykers' equipment includes several night vision devices, including those associated with the sight of weapons. However, these devices initially produced a black and white image. In a number of conditions, such an image is insufficient to determine the target, in particular, during police operations, when, for example, accurate identification of vehicles is required, including by color. The Pentagon Commission recommended replacing night vision devices with more convenient and efficient ones.
After the publication of the report, the use of armored personnel carriers and other vehicles of the Stryker family was limited. After several months of fierce disputes, it was decided to continue operating these machines, but as soon as possible to re-equip the existing equipment in accordance with the results of operation, and all new machines were immediately built according to the updated project. Fortunately for the Pentagon financiers, by the time the report was published, General Dynamics Land Systems and General Motors had built only a fraction of the vehicles ordered. In this regard, subsequent batches of armored personnel carriers, self-propelled guns, etc. were manufactured taking into account the identified problems. At the same time, there were no significant changes. The armored vehicles received new electronics, standard anti-cumulative grilles and a number of other fixes. In 2008, the Pentagon ordered more than 600 more vehicles of various configurations. They were originally built according to the updated project.
"Inborn" flaws in the design and equipment, which had to be corrected in the course of production, led to a tangible rise in the cost of the program. In the event of a complete transfer of intermediate brigades and divisions to Stryker vehicles, the total value of equipment orders could exceed the $ 15 billion mark. Initially, it was planned to spend about 12 billion on equipping six brigades and building related infrastructure. It is worth noting that the figure of $ 15 billion so far fits into the plans of the Pentagon and Congress: from the very beginning of the IAV Stryker program, it was envisaged to reserve two to three billion in case of an unforeseen increase in expenses.
Prospects of the project
Despite significant efforts made to eliminate the identified shortcomings, the appearance of the armored vehicles of the Stryker family remains ambiguous. On the one hand, the fighting qualities of the vehicles have improved markedly, but on the other hand, they have become more expensive and less convenient to transport. With the last question, the situation is as follows: the characteristics of the main American military transport aircraft C-130 allow transporting most of the cars of the Stryker family. In addition, earlier, in some cases, additional booking modules could be placed on board the aircraft. Thus, to transport a subunit, as many aircraft were required as armored vehicles in a company, battalion, etc. With the addition of standard anti-cumulative grilles, the situation has become more complicated. The dimensions and weight of this protection are such that the list of Stryker modifications that can be transported with all additional protection has been reduced to a couple of vehicles. Thus, for the transfer of the unit, it is necessary to allocate additional transport aircraft for the transport of armor modules and hinged grilles. All this directly affects the cost of operating armored vehicles.
Further improvement of the "Stryker" goes in the direction of improving electronics, updating weapons and installing new means of protection. In particular, it is planned to create and launch into a series of dynamic protection modules, however, due to a number of design features, this will not be very easy. In principle, the Americans could try to make a completely new armored platform. However, all or almost all the routes for such a "retreat" were blocked ten years ago, when the Pentagon, not taking into account possible problems, ordered more than two thousand armored personnel carriers and other vehicles of the family at once. As a result, a lot of money was spent on the construction of machines not quite ready for war, and the creation of new technology and its large-scale production will cost even more. Thus, the American army is only left with the modernization of the Stryker, at least in the coming years. But with this rate of improvement on the Strykers, the need for an entirely new armored platform may well mature much earlier than planned.
One of the reasons for all the failures of the IAV Stryker program is considered to be the fallacy of the concept itself. One of the authors of the idea of intermediate brigades, General Eric Shinseki, who at one time headed the headquarters of the US ground forces, systematically promoted his proposal to quickly create a new structure and equip it with equipment just as quickly. General Shinseki has repeatedly stated that the state of the army fifteen years ago did not meet the requirements of the time. The tank units were too "clumsy" and the motorized infantry were too weak in terms of weapons. The solution to the problem was to be a new family of technology that combines the mobility of light armored vehicles and the firepower of heavy ones. As you can see, the chosen path turned out to be not entirely correct and the ground forces of the United States received combat vehicles that were not completely suitable for real combat conditions.
