US Army plans radical upgrade of Stryker Brigades ("DVH" conversions)

[CougarKing]

Defense News

US Plans Radical Upgrade of Stryker Brigades
Jan. 12, 2014 - 02:15PM  |  By PAUL McLEARY 

WASHINGTON — If the US Army can manage to keep its future budgets in line with current projections, the service will transform all nine of its Stryker brigades into the heavily armored “double V-hull” (DVH) configuration.

The Army already fields two DVH brigades while a third is in the works to be fully equipped by the end of fiscal 2016. That’s the good news.

The not-so-good news is that the remaining six brigades remain unfunded in fiscal 2016-2020 budget projections obtained by Defense News.

According to slides of a Dec. 6 briefing given by Stryker program manager David Dopp, in March 2013 the Army’s deputy chief of staff, G3/5/7, issued a memorandum stating that “the objective is to ultimately equip all nine SBCTs with DVH Strykers,” though no time frame was given.

Once the third brigade is equipped in fiscal 2016, the Army is expected to begin working on the next brigades to be up-armored.


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The Stryker documents detail fiscal 2016 to 2020, but the numbers will likely change as budgets and priorities shift in subsequent years. They do, however, provide a snapshot of thinking in the Pentagon, and offer clues as to where managers are trying to drive their programs after absorbing guidance from Army leaders.

The slides do not appear to take sequestration into account, however.

The first DVH brigade earned high marks from soldiers for survivability against roadside bombs during a 2011 deployment to Afghanistan. The “V” shaped hull helped deflect underbelly blasts, while the original flat-bottomed Strykers were found to be vulnerable to buried roadside bombs.

The third brigade to be given the new DVH Strykers is identified for the first time here as 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.

In other previously undisclosed decisions, the slides state that in October, the Army decided to reduce the number of nuclear, biological, chemical and reconnaissance Stryker vehicles from 417 to 307.

The service also is looking for a place to store the 600 flat-bottomed Strykers that will be displaced by the third DVH brigade, and funds to keep them in storage.



(...) - MORE AT LINK

 

[Shrek1985]

Are they doing anything to reduce ground-pressure and improve cross-country performance?

I saw the pic of the tracked stryker prototype, but is that a conversion package?

 

[little jim]

Are they doing anything to reduce ground-pressure and improve cross-country performance?

I saw the pic of the tracked stryker prototype, but is that a conversion package?

Given this is the internet the DVH was primarily intended to improve survivability from IED and blast threats.  Again for this venue nothing was done to specifically address ground-pressure and cross-country performance beyond some adjustments/improvements to the drivers station.  There were some noted improvements to reliability and maintenance but that could have been just the blip of brand new vehicles.

It is good to read that some variants that were not originally identified as conversion to DVH now are.  As with our LAV III the flat bottomed Stykers...makes you wonder if some of the strikes out in Maiwand had been on DVH and not the recce ones if people would have lived.

Keep in mind that when you read about the SBCT that a lot of the heavy brigades and others use the CBRNE variant as well.

 

[Shrek1985]

Keep in mind that when you read about the SBCT that a lot of the heavy brigades and others use the CBRNE variant as well.

That surprised me, as I had though the M93 Wolf was still the primary CBRN recce platform.

They better figure out something to do for ground pressure; or else they will have brigades of road-bound pillboxes. Good roads at that.