REPORT: STRYKERS = SITTING DUCKS

“The Army’s new state-​​of-​​the art infantry vehi­cle slated to make its com­bat debut in Iraq in October is vul­ner­a­ble to the kind of rocket-​​propelled grenades now being used by Saddam Hussein’s guer­ril­las, a consultant’s report charges,” accord­ing to the Washington Times.

The Army, which rebuts the report’s find­ings, plans to send 300 Stryker armored vehi­cles and 3,600 sol­diers to Iraq. This first Stryker brigade will help put down the resis­tance that has killed more 60 American troop­ers since May 1. It will also be a pre­view of a lighter, more mobile Army for the 21st cen­tury.
But a report pre­pared for Rep. James H. Saxton, New Jersey Republican, says the vehi­cle is ill-​​suited for such war­fare.
“Poorly armored and entirely vul­ner­a­ble to RPGs,” states the report, pre­pared July 18 by con­sul­tant Victor O’Reilly. 

Stryker has had a long his­tory of con­tro­versy — even before its first deploy­ment. During the Millennium Challenge 2002 war game, for exam­ple, sol­diers com­plained that the Stryker was sus­cep­ti­ble to flat tires, couldn’t hit tar­gets on the run, and would get unbear­ably hot inside — 120 degrees and higher.

August 26th, 2003 | Uncategorized | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.