Originally Posted by Rotty261

What does everyone think of the Stryker fighting vehicles? I am over in Iraq as a civilian security contractor and have had the opportunity to ride in and with them and am impressed for the most part.

Rotty,
Only you or any who has used these vehicles can best comment on them. Most of us are civis or from other armies that don't use the Stryker.
However, from what is known about the Stryker. The main disadvantages seem to be the lack of a gun turret and lack of gun ports for firing the individual infantry weapons.
The Australians seem to be using the 25mm gun turret version.

For those that do not know I am no longer in the military but am employed as a civilian security contractor in Iraq. I have only hooked rides in them and used Strykers as escorts in convoys.

But from what I have seen and heard most soldiers really like them. One thing to keep in mind is that most of the soldiers using them are infantry who used to either walk or use hummers and deuce and halfs, so I would bet that most of those guys enjoy using them.

For its intended purpose -- rapid APC deployment via highway at faster speeds than possible with a tracked APC with decent armor and some various weapon configurations -- the Stryker fits the bill. I think that you run into the same problem again and again. How do you balance a vehicle like the Stryker "wearing too many hats" vs the need to be versatile?

The Stryker offers far better protection than a Humvee can. It isn't too much slower. Its a bigger target than the Humvee. Tires are easier to take out than tracks, so you have a harder time taking out the Bradley's ability to move than the Stryker. More wheels are harder to take out than less wheels, so its is harder to render immobile than the Humvee. I think the Stryker has a vital role to fill and that it fills it well enough. There are several things that could be improved upon, but that is no different than any other piece of military hardware.

Mod Edit: You have been warned about making claims. Do not do it again.

I've done my homework, the Stryker is an awesome vehicle, godofthunder9010 made some good points, but I'm sure a couple of Fedeyeen with RPG's don't agree with that. A BFV or M113 /w an M2 and two M60's will be a little bit better than the Stryker in the street.

I think its more fit for fast hit and runs, not convoy protetion, I have been in a many Stryker and found them, I'd say light? The M113 can be uparmored as can the Stryker but as you uparmor the Stryker its preformance drops, speed, weight ups, not only that the 25mm turret does the same, with a two ton turret and another ton and a half of armor it really slows it. The Stryker closly resembles the Commando series armor vehicle..




M113 Armored Personnel Carrier
M113A1 Armored Personnel Carrier
M113A2 Armored Personnel Carrier
M113A3 Armored Personnel Carrier
M113A4 Mobile Tactical Vehicle Light
M113A4 Infantry Fighting Vehicle
M113A4 Armored Medical Evacuation Vehicle
M113A4 Engineering Squad Vehicle
M113A4 HAZMAT
M113 ACAV (Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle)
XM734 Infantry Fighting Vehicle
M58 Wolf Smoke Generator Carrier
M106 Self-propelled 107mm Mortar
M114 Command and Recon Carrier
M125 Self-propelled 81mm Mortar
M132 Flamethrower
M163 Vulcan / PIVADS
M548 Cargo Carrier
M577 Command Post Carrier
M579 Fitter Repair Vehicle
M667 Carrier, Guided Missile Equipment
M677 Carrier Guided Missile Equipment (Lance)
M688 Carrier Guided Missile (Lance)
M727 Guided Missile Carrier (Hawk)
M730 Guided Missile (Chaparral)
M752 Missile Launcher (Lance)
M901 Improved TOW Vehicle
M981 Fire Support Team Vehicle (FISTV)
M1015 EW Shelter Carrier
M1059 Lynx Smoke Generator Carrier
M1064 Self-propelled 120mm Mortar
M1068 Command Post System (SICPS)
M1108 Universal Carrier


Stryker Interim Armored Vehicle
Medium Armored Vehicle (MAV)
M1126 ICV - Infantry Carrier Vehicle
M1127 RV - Reconnaissance Vehicle
M1128 MGS - Mobile Gun System
M1129 MC - Mortar Carrier
M1130 CV - Commander's Vehicle
M1131 FSV - Fire Support Vehicle
M1132 ESV - Engineer Support Vehicle
M1133 MEV - Medical Evacuation Vehicle
M1134 ATGM - Anti Tank Guided Missile
M1135 NBCRV - NBC Recon Vehicle

Originally Posted by Cadet Airman Adam Seaman

I think its more fit for fast hit and runs, not convoy protetion, I have been in a many Stryker and found them, I'd say light? The M113 can be uparmored as can the Stryker but as you uparmor the Stryker its preformance drops, speed, weight ups, not only that the 25mm turret does the same, with a two ton turret and another ton and a half of armor it really slows it. The Stryker closly resembles the Commando series armor vehicle..

well, the NZLAVS have the turret, and one of them past my G/f at highway speeds the other day (100kph)

personally i think a RPG is going to mess up ANY personel carrier short of the tank conversions the isreali's have made.

One benefit of the M113 was it used to be an easy vehicle to repair and maintain.....M3 Bradley was a pain in the butt for PMCS or busting track out in the middle of no where....aw them was the days...

Originally Posted by chewie_nz

well, the NZLAVS have the turret, and one of them past my G/f at highway speeds the other day (100kph)

personally i think a RPG is going to mess up ANY personel carrier short of the tank conversions the isreali's have made.

uparmored hummers can take em too right?

like this one:
http://img210.exs.cx/img210/61/stryk...mgunusa7pk.jpg

Well the whole point in not having a 25mm turret on the Stryker is that the Commando series had one and the gun and ammo tookup lagre amount of room and where very prone to grenade and cocktail attacks.

Someone said a Stryker /w a 25mm passed their g/f at high speeds. Did it have its combat armor on? Did it have all its ammo? Did it have its full crew? Whaqt it being fired upon by Fedeyeen?

Another thing about the Stryker is it doesn't carry spare tires, the M113 carries spare track.

(Forgive mean if I seem rude and disrespectful. It's hard to debate when you don't know what ppl have done or been through or who is the real deal and who's not.)

The styker seems better to me than the M113 but not as effective as an M2/M3