Defense Technology International - April 2008 - (Page 38) VEHICLES ARMORED not a personnel carrier, it is more of a capabilities platform because of what it brings to the fight.” He has a point. The communications and intelligence capabilities a Stryker provides are virtually unmatched in the military. Each vehicle comes with the Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade-and-Below (FBCB2) information system, which provides a communications network between other similarly networked vehicles and commanders up to the regimental level. This makes the Stryker the Army’s first true test of what its much-heralded “networkcentric warfare” looks like in the field. According to Pendell, “when you relied on radio, everyone saw something different, but now . . . if you have accurate reporting, everybody’s seeing the same picture, which allows not only the commander on the ground to make decisions, but also drives the decisions that the regimental commander makes.” Strykers position themselves with a Rockwell Collins AN/PSN-11 PLGR precision lightweight GPS receiver. A Raytheon AN/TSQ-158 Enhanced Position Location Reporting System transmits this positional information to connected vehicles. The FBCB2 screen, which hangs from the roof of the vehicle where the commander sits, shows the location of friendly forces in blue and enemy forces in red, though the dearth of conventional foes has led commanders to use the system to mark the locations of known improvised explosive devices in red, so everyone up to the regimental level can see where danger zones are on the roads. As far as the down- Long night: Olivia, a working dog, sleeps in a and-dirty technology, Stryker en route to camp after a patrol. Stryker tires can be inflated or deflated remotely inside the who monitor thermal video screens, vehicle to compensate for road surfaces, and the vehicle’s commander and two and the vehicle has run-flat tires and a back gunners, who poke up through built-in fire-suppression system. air guards. All wear helmets equipped Stryker Task Force Gimlet, comprising with earphones and microphones to 760 soldiers and based at Camp Liberty, is communicate with each other. For the a typical unit. It is equipped with the nine rest of the crew, the only inkling of what Stryker variants: infantry-carrier vehicle is happening outside comes through with a crew of 11; reconnaissance vehicles; an FBCB2 screen and the .50-caliber mortar-carrier vehicles with mounted gunner’s video screen, which is visible 60- and 120-mm. mortars; commander’s on the left side of the vehicle. vehicle with command-and-control techSince Strykers and the FBCB2 sysnologies; fire-support vehicle; mobile gun tems were built to engage conventional system vehicle, which has a 105-mm. can- forces, some tweaking occurs. Able to non mounted on top; medical evacuation withstand 14.5-mm. rounds and 155-mm. vehicle, which carries 4-6 artillery fragments, Strykers are also casualties and three medics; equipped with slat armor to counter and the anti-tank guided- rocket-propelled grenades. Most units missile vehicle, which has pile sandbags on the floor and against two missile launchers for the walls to protect against explosively TOW bunker-busters and formed penetrators and IEDs. anti-tank missiles. But even this can do only so much. Though a reporter saw On Feb. 8, a deep-buried IED exploded all of these vehicles at Camp next to a Stryker near Abu Ghraib, Liberty and at several out- killing four crew and injuring seven, posts, only two were seen in members of B Co., 2SBCT. A soldier at action—the infantry carrier combat outpost IBA, which B Co. calls and commander’s vehicle. home, said “it looked like about 500 lb. The mobile gun system with of homemade explosives, but the guys its 105-mm. cannon rarely assigned to the investigation thought leaves base, since counter- higher-grade stu in a smaller quantity insurgency operations are might have been used.” hardly conducive to artillery There are some blasts that armor volleys. can’t deflect. Riding in a Stryker as Still, according to Pendell, the speed, an infantryman, the world communications, situational awareoutside sometimes seems ness and troop movement capabilities to be an abstraction. The of Stryker units make them the envy only soldiers who can see of the Army. “That’s why they broke up outside the vehicle are our regiment and put one squadron with the driver and gunner, almost every Brigade Combat Team in the division, because everyone wants a The night belongs to piece of it.” I Stryker. Soldiers fire flares from a mortar to expose terrorists Read McLeary's posts on DTI's planting roadside weblog, Ares, updated daily: bombs in Mosul. AviationWeek.com/ares U.S. ARMY PHOTOS 38 DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL APRIL 2008 AviationWeek.com/dti http://AviationWeek.com/ares http://AviationWeek.com/dti
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