The Infantry Assault Vehicle, Stryker, which has eight wheels of all-wheel-drive, is an armored assault vehicle designed and manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems and is based on the Canadians LAV III. The Stryker is the newest armored vehicle that the U.S. Army has produced since the M2/M3 Bradley in the 1980s.

The Stryker Brigade Combat Teams relies on the C4I network in order to connect all of the Strykers in any given area so that they can interact with each other on the battlefield in a way that has never been seen before. This new system is uniformed and stable enough to allow top quality battle precision and maneuvering capabilities that beats any and all other military tactics in the world.

Design

Pretty much all of the vehicles mechanical functions are driven by either pneumatic or hydraulic systems and although the vehicle comes in several different models, they all share a common engine, transmission, hydraulics, wheels, tires, chassis, and several other important mechanized features. The Stryker has been upgraded with a high-capacity generator and an air conditioning unit. We don’t want our troops to get all the way to the Middle East and die of heat exhaustion, now do we?

Power pack and mechanical features

The Stryker uses a common caterpillar disel engine block that can be found in many of the United States Army’s tanks, which allows the different models to share parts and the mechanics don’t have to learn how each separate version works in order to repair something. All of the cables and hoses on these mechanical contraptions are easily disconnected from the system to allow quick and efficient maintanence of the vehicle. The entire engine and transmission system can be removed and replaced within two hours which means that a lot of the repairs can happen outside of the vehicle and then simply be put back in at a later time.

Command, control, and targeting

To help prevent what was common in older warfare, computer systems can now allow soldiers to track all of the other friendly vehicles in the area so that they don’t accidentally blow each other up. Believe it or not, the majority of losses in United States tank warfare come from friendly fire incidents. The Stryker has also been updated with a day-night thermal imaging system that lets the Commander see whatever the Driver sees at all times. Even while soldiers are IN the vehicle at the time, they can now doing vehicle training missions from computer simulation modules inside the Stryker. The Driver and Gunner of the Stryker can use the assistance of persicopes to see 360 degrees outside of the tank so that they don’t have to put themselves in harm’s way in order to see what’s going on.

Protection

The Stryker is well defended as it has enough armor protection to stop the rounds of a 14.5 mm armor-piercing machine gun. It comes equipped with an automatic system that puts out fires as soon as they start which lowers the amount of damage that’s done to the tank and, in case the sensors don’t pick it up right away, the Driver can activate the halon fire bottles himself in order to stop any and all fire-related threats that the tank can encounter. The Stryker also comes with slated armor that is capable of detonating explosive materials at a safe distance away from the tank. That means those nasty missiles that come flying at it will be easily extinguished without doing any permanent damage to the vehicle. Right down to the fuel tanks, the Stryker has be ergonomically crafted so that in the case of an explosion, the externally mounted containers will blow AWAY from the vehicle, potentially saving the lives of dozens of United States soldiers. The Stryker is airtight and pressured in a way that keeps it protected from chemicals, biological toxins, radiological threats, and even nuclear catastrophes. The Stryker is also due for some new and interesting upgrades soon, which include the Boomerang anti-sniper system and the Raytheon anti-RPG system.

Mobility

The Stryker has the ability to fluctuate the pressure in all of its eight tires in order to combat varying terrains, including highways, cross-country driving, mud, sand, rain, and snow. The computer system aboard will automatically let the Driver know that the vehicle is exceeding the preferred speed for that specific tire pressure and then readjust the tire pressure to fit that speed. Even though the Stryker’s tires can go several miles after a flat tire, systems will alert the Driver of the problem. While the Stryker cannot travel in open water, it can tread small bodies of water up until the top of its wheels. While the Stryker can be air-dropped, as is seen with the tests performed in August of 2004, no existing helicopter can carry the 19-26 ton vehicle.

Cost

In 2002, the Stryker cost over $3 million, although by 2003, that price was cut in half.

LAV-H Stryker upgrade

The US Army has plans to reshape the hull, add extra armor to the sides of the vehicle, non-flammable tires, an extra 500 amps of power, better semi-active suspension, design variations in the doors and seats that make them even better at resisting impact movement, and changes to the system in order to maintain the 25% increase in weight that the Stryker has received. The new StrykShield Situational Awareness Kit has been established to point out a lot of new upgrades that the Stryker could use, such as the new ATI 500-MIL steel armor that the Stryker now possesses.

The Stryker isn’t exactly a light vehicle or a heavy one, but instead simply a vehicle that is able to carry out its duty and perform the tasks that need to be done in order to win wars. The stryker provides a decent amount of security and can transport soldiers to the battlefield quicker than ever before. While previous transport vehicles have been light armor vehicles or no armor at all, the Stryker provides its infantry with speed, durability, reliability, range, security, and a .50 caliber machine gun. In urban areas, such as Middle Eastern cities, Strykers can maneuver right up to doorsteps and allow infrantry to dismount and enter the building under the cover of the vehicle. As the Stryker isn’t as strong against heavy weaponry, it has to rely on its speed for the majority of its defense tactics. What that means is that while it can’t take as many of the blows that heavy armor battle tanks can, it can certainly outmanuever its enemy to win the fight.

As it turns out, however, tests have shown that the Stryker is capable of utilizing both defense systems and its crew to combat tanks that are of a higher classification than itself, although the casuality rate is relatively higher in these circumstances.

The Stryker’s main objective is to be rapidly deployed over long distances. While this used to call for a lot lower protection, the logistic requirements of the Stryker are now much higher.