Stryker

The IAV Stryker is a family of eight-wheeled all-wheel-drive armored combat vehicles produced by General Dynamics Land Systems, in use by the United States Army. Based on the Canadian LAV III light-armored vehicle, which in turn is based on the Swiss MOWAG Piranha III 8x8, the Stryker is the U.S. Army's first new armored vehicle since the M2/M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle in the 1980s.

The Stryker was championed by General Eric Shinseki when he was U.S. Army Chief of Staff. The vehicle is employed in Stryker Brigade Combat Teams, light and mobile units based on the Brigade Combat Team Doctrine that relies on vehicles connected by military C4I networks.

Design
Pneumatic or hydraulic systems drive almost all of the vehicle's mechanical features; for example, a pneumatic system switches between 8X4 and 8X8 drive.

The vehicle comes in several variants with a common engine, transmission, hydraulics, wheels, tires, differentials and transfer case. Two exceptions are the M1130 Command Vehicle and M1133 Medical Evacuation Vehicle, which have an air conditioning unit mounted on the back. The medical vehicle also has a higher-capacity generator. A recent upgrade program provided a field retrofit kit to add air conditioning units to all variants.

Power pack and mechanical features
For its power pack the Stryker uses a Caterpillar diesel engine common in U.S. Army medium-lift trucks, eliminating extensive retraining of maintenance crews and allowing the use of common parts.

Designers strove to ease the maintainer's job, equipping most cables, hoses, and mechanical systems with quick-disconnecting mechanisms. The engine and transmission can be removed and reinstalled in approximately two hours, allowing repairs to the turbocharger and many other components to be done outside the vehicle.

Because of obsolescence concerns, the Caterpillar 3126 engine was recently replaced by a Caterpillar C7 engine. The C7 shares a common engine block with the 3126.

Command, Control, and Targeting
Extensive computer support helps soldiers fight the enemy while reducing friendly fire incidents. Each vehicle can track friendly vehicles in the field as well as detected enemies.
A day-night thermal imaging camera allows the vehicle commander to see what the driver sees.
Soldiers can practice training with the vehicles from computer training modules inside the vehicle.

The driver and the gunner have periscopes that allow them to see outside the vehicle without exposing themselves to outside dangers. The gunner has almost a 360-degree field of vision; the driver, a little more than 90 degrees.

General Dynamics Land Systems is developing a new Power and Data Management Architecture to handle computer upgrades.

Protective features
The armor suite has been made thicker than the MOWAG design to stop 14.5 mm armor-piercing machine-gun rounds and artillery fragments.
The automatic fire extinguishing system has sensors in the engine and troop compartments that activate one or more halon fire bottles, which can also be activated by the driver.
"Catchers' mask"-style deflectors known as slat armor which detonate the explosive round away from the vehicle. This type of armor is cheaper and lighter than spaced appliqué-plate or reactive armor.

The fuel tanks are externally mounted and designed to blow away from the hull in the event of explosion.

The CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear) Warfare system keeps the crew compartment airtight and positively pressurized.
There are plans to add the Boomerang anti-sniper system and Raytheon Quick Kill anti-RPG system.

Mobility Features

Two Strykers move through rough terrain in Korea
The vehicle can alter the pressure in all eight tires to suit terrain conditions: highway, cross-country, mud/sand/snow, and emergency. The system warns the driver if the vehicle exceeds the recommended speed for its tire pressure, then automatically inflates the tires to the next higher pressure setting. The system can also warn the driver of a flat tire, although the Stryker is equipped with run-flat tire inserts that also serve as bead-locks, allowing the vehicle to move several miles before the tire completely deteriorates.

Unlike many modern armored personnel carriers, the Stryker is not an amphibious vehicle, but watertight combat hatch seals allow it to ford water up to the tops of its wheels.
In August 2004, the US Air Force successfully air dropped an up-weighted Stryker Engineering Support Vehicle from a C-17. This test to determine the feasibility of air dropping a Stryker MGS. Even though this test was a success, none of the Stryker variants have been certified for airdrop.

The Stryker is too heavy (19 - 26 tons, depending on which variant and which add-on features) to be lifted by existing helicopters.

Cost
The unit cost to purchase the initial Stryker ICVs (without add-ons, including the cage armor) was US$3 million in April 2002.[7] By May 2003, the regular production cost per vehicle was US$1.42 million.

LAV-H Stryker Upgrade
The US Army plans to improve its fleet of Stryker vehicles with the introduction of improved semi-active suspension, modifications reshaping the hull into a shallow V-shaped structure, additional armor for the sides, redesigned hatches to minimize gaps in the armor, blast absorbing mine resistant seats (or BENCHES), non-flammable tires, an upgrade to the remote weapon station that allows it to fire on the go, increased 500 amp power generation, a new solid state power distribution system and data bus, and the automotive and power plant systems will be upgraded to support a 25% Gross Vehicle Weight increase. The upgraded V-hull will be part of the new StrykShield situational awareness kit, which will address many of these upgrades. In 2008, Allegheny Technologies' ATI 500-MIL armor steel was designated the primary armored plating for the StrykShield package. The upgrade incorporating lessons learned from Afghanistan is designated LAV-H and General Dynamics had a technology demonstrator displayed at the 2007 Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Exposition.