US Army's new 'upgunned' Stryker unveiled
 

US Army's new 'upgunned' Stryker unveiled
Daniel Wasserbly, Washington, DC - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly - 28 October 2016
RE: http://www.janes.com/article/64988/u...ryker-unveiled

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The US Army and contractor General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) on 27 October unveiled the first prototype of an 'upgunned' Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle (ICV).

This is the first of eight prototype vehicles upgraded with a 30 mm weapon to address a perceived 'capability gap' in Europe. Prototypes are to next undergo "a series of industry 'shakedown' testing prior to industry contractually delivering the vehicles to the army in December", the service said, adding that government testing would start in January 2017.

GDLS was awarded a USD329 million contract modification in May to provide a 30 mm weapon for the Stryker lethality upgrade. The army has said the 'undefinitised contract action' covers "production of 83" lethality-upgraded Stryker ICVs as well as "contractor technical support to [US government] testing, and associated logistics products".

The company selected Kongsberg's MCT-30 medium-calibre remote weapon station that is operated from the vehicle's commander station. Orbital ATK's XM813 Bushmaster 30 mm cannon (originally developed for the former Future Combat Systems programme) was integrated onto the turret. The dual-fed, semi-automatic weapon can fire up to 200 rounds per minute, and can be used with the entire family of 30 mm x 173 mm ammunition, according to briefing slides viewed by IHS Jane's .

Army leaders are calling the upgraded vehicle the 'Dragoon' and assigned it as the XM1296 Infantry Carrier Vehicle - Dragoon.

This added weapon was driven through an operational need statement from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment (known as the Dragoons) based at Vilseck in Germany. Service leaders approved that plan in 2015. Mike Peck, GDLS' head of business development, told IHS Jane's in early October that the first upgraded vehicle could be fielded to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in April 2017. In its 27 October statement, the army said fielding the capability "is required by 2018".