Without getting into the "should we have it" debate over the Stryker, I wanted to know if the US Army is planning on deploying an SBCT (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) to Afghanistan. I know there is a Stryker unit (2nd ID if I remember correctly) in Iraq and I know there are no Strykers last I heard in Afghanistan, so does anyone know of a unit gearing up to be sent over there? Or is Iraq really just more of a combat evaluation?

Also, I have been having a hard time keeping up with which units have converted. Can anyone give me an update?

Jeff

I can't answer you questions, but would like to know the answer myself. I want to add another question if I may about the strykers in Iraq. I thought I heard on the news that some strykers were disabled or distroyed (4 I think) in a fight near the border to iether Syria or Iran. By the time I got to the TV to listen more the story was gone. Can anyone confirm this?

Yes multiple have been hit. In reference to your "4 disabled or destroyed," that is true, but the cages seems to be holding up. It seems that when an area that the cage doesn't cover or when the RPG is hitting a certain velocity and/or angle that the cage can't take, it punches through, and you get boom. The good thing about the "boom" is that, like an Abrams ammunition panels, Stykers have fuel and ammo panels that blow out on impact. Few crews have been injured, much less killed (have there been any Stryker crew KIAs yet?). The vehicles are usually catastrophic losses, but the crew and troops getting out is more important.

Written December 13, 2003 by AP:

TACOMA — A $2 million Stryker reconnaissance vehicle was destroyed in Iraq on Saturday when it rolled over an explosive device planted in a road, officials of the Fort Lewis-based Stryker brigade said.

The driver suffered a broken right ankle and foot, and was flown to an Army hospital in Balad, a town north of Baghdad, according to The News Tribune of Tacoma, which has a reporter embedded with the recently deployed brigade. Three other crew members escaped unharmed.

The driver said fire engulfed the engine compartment as he crawled from his seat through the narrow passageway known as the "hellhole" and escaped the burning vehicle with the other crew members.

"I saw bright orange and tried to step on the gas," he said, "but then I saw the engine compartment was on fire ... and I got out as quick as possible."

He ran down the rear ramp with the rest of the crew and got into another Stryker. Other vehicles in the patrol fired on unspecified targets to counter the possibility of additional attacks, he said.

The explosion occurred around 1 p.m. Saturday as scouts from the 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment were on patrol in a location that brigade officials did not disclose, for reasons of security.

It was the first of the Army's Strykers destroyed by hostile action.

The brigade arrived in Iraq more than a week ago. Last Monday, three soldiers were killed and a fourth was injured when two Strykers plunged into an irrigation canal. The vehicles were submerged in about 8 feet of water and sustained extensive interior damage.

The Stryker vehicle destroyed in the explosion was recovered and trucked back to the operating base late Saturday.

Capt. Jerry New and Maj. David Athey, the squadron's executive officer, said troopers at the scene found a crater with wires leading away from it.

"We're 90 percent certain it was an IED," New said, referring to what the Army calls improvised explosive devices that have killed and wounded scores of U.S. soldiers across Iraq. They are usually planted in or along a roadway and detonated by remote control.

A convoy on its way to the Stryker brigade's base camp in northern Iraq was struck by one such bomb Dec. 6. No one was injured, but the explosion peppered the windshield with rocks and debris.

Jeff

Another story from March 28, 2004 http://www.murdoconline.net/archives/001160.html





From the looks of it, in the bottom picture you can see a white pickup. That might be the vehicle that attack the Stryker. Strykers don't hunt alone (right?), so its plausible - more likely probable - that the attackers didn't get away.

Jeff

Thanks for the info and link. It gives me an idea for another topic, but instead of hijacking yours I will start another. Thanks again for the info!

I don't know if the US has Strykers in Afghanistan or not, but I know the Canadian Forces have their LAV III over there, which is the same vehicle as the Stryker....seems to suit them well, although we can all safely say that the fighting in Afghanistan is a little lighter than it is in Iraq right now.