Speed and flexibility
Stryker is a family of armored trooptransport vehicles for the U.S. Army. Strykers provide unprecedented speed and flexibility in getting infantry to the fight, under armor, in urban or open environments.
The Mobile Gun System configuration carries a General Dynamics 105mm tank cannon (same gun tube as the one found on the original M-1 Abrams tank) in a low-profile, fully stabilized, “shoot on the move” turret. Its armor protects the three-soldier crew from machine gun bullets, mortar and artillery fragments on the battlefield. The Stryker Mobile Gun System can fire 18 rounds of 105-mm main gun ammunition; 400 rounds of .50 caliber ammunition; and 3,400 rounds of 7.62-mm ammunition. It operates with the latest C4ISR equipment as well as detectors for nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
The Stryker vehicles are designed not to exceed a 38,000-pound weight limit, to enable them to fly on a C-130. As of early 2002 the mobile gun exceeded the maximum by 3,000 pounds. The mobile gun system had weighed 45,000 pounds until an aggressive weight reduction program began in January 2002.
The armor suite has been made thicker than the MOWAG design to stop 14.5mm armor-piercing machine-gun rounds and artillery fragments.
On December 14, 2005 General Dynamics Land Systems delivered the first two of 72 low-rate initial production (LRIP) Stryker Mobile Gun System (MGS) variant vehicles to the U.S. Army at Anniston (Ala.) Army Depot.
The MGS LRIP vehicles will be used for various tests and user evaluations through the fourth quarter of 2007. The Milestone C decision to begin full-rate production of the MGS variant is slated for the fourth quarter of 2007 as well.
GM GDLS Defense Group L.L.C. (Joint Venture), Sterling Heights, Mich., was awarded on Aug. 25, 2006, a delivery order amount of $25,000,000 as part of a $194,083,293 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the mobile gun system vehicle and nuclear biological chemical reconnaissance vehicle test support. Work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Mich. (80 percent), and London Ontario, Canada (20 percent), and is expected to be completed by Oct. 31, 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were an unknown number of bids solicited via the World Wide Web on April 6, 2000, and 17 bids were received. The U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (DAAE07-00-D-M051).
Specifications:
Armor:14.5 mm resistant[1]
Primary armament: M68A1E4 105 mm gun (MGS) M2 .50 caliber machine gun or MK19 40 mm grenade launcher mounted in a PROTECTOR M151 Remote Weapon Station (RWS) (ICV)
Secondary armament: .50-cal M2 MG and 7.62mm MG (MGS )
Engine: Caterpillar 3126 turbo diesel
260 kW (350 hp)
Power/weight ICV: 15.8 kW/t (19.3 hp/sh tn)
Suspension: 8×8 wheeled
Operational range: 500 km (300 mi)
Speed: 100 km/h (62 mph)- limited to 72 km/h (45mph) by US Army rule due to rollover danger at high speeds
