Stryker MGS Gunnery

I'll have to rely on the military folks who frequent the blog to answer this, but does this signal the beginning of the end for the MBT? If you can project that kind of firepower on a more mobile and common platform like the Stryker (I've seen other configurations like a TOW and, I think, anti-aircraft), why would you need a MBT?

Since MBT are also vulnerable to the latest/greatest evolution of IED does it make sense to get more versatility with the Stryker instead?

This is only my opinion, but no, it is not the end of the MBT.

But yes, you are correct that this is supposed to be used along with the Stryker.

Look, they've been playing around with this idea since the 1980's. Anybody who served in the 9th ID (MTZ) will understand the idea behind what they're trying to do with this "combined arms" company. I saw the concept when it was the CAB (combined arms battalion).

The stryker and this MGS and so forth are great tools for beating up on third world insurgents, when you have air supremacy and all the rest of the high tech toys and they don't. (remember the little ditty about the Maxim gun?)

I can't envision right now a scenario where the US is fighting anybody with a real army--but you wouldn't want to bring this against a real MBT. It would go poof. (Hell, it has to have an RPG skirt even now.)

It all comes back to having the right tools for the task at hand. (Anybody remember the light infantry divisions? How long did that concept last?)

The Stryker MGS will survive on the battlefield through the other guys lacking any proper anti-tank weapons, and luck. That's about it ;)

I'm not saying it's a bad COIN platform, I'm just saying it's not a vehicle I would want to be anywhere near on an actual genuine battlefield, the kind they had back in Dubya Dubya Too.

I realize that new platforms have to cut their teeth in the field, but all reports on the Stryker MGS arent glowing:

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/Stryker-MGS-Problems-in-the-Field-04731/

Hopefully they will get the bugs worked out soon and get a vehicle fielded that will help the troops.

You know, a post like this is practically an invitation for Mike Sparks to start camping out in your comment thread.
In the meantime I guess I'm relieved that the only Stryker variant to draw any serious heat is (for the time being) one of the least-needed variants.

I'm nowhere near as proficient on the Movable Type software as John or Charlie, but I do believe there are ways to ban folks if someone like Sparks starts coming around. I've dealt with that guy before on a different site.

And trying to hide from the messenger will make the true message go away?

The Stryker truck is a road-bound, costly failure and death trap and no amount of victim excuses from those trucktards that want to be sexy and lazy on wheels is going to make it C-130 air transportable or cross-country mobile like the tracked M113 Gavin.

Rebels all over the world cannot ask for an easier target than the Stryker that obliges by rolling right into their road land mines.

Here's a web page that will be packed full of the truth about the Stryker truck deathtrap/cash cow:

www.combatreform.com/strykerhorrors.htm

"Deal" with that, trucktards.

Mr. Sparks obviously has intamcy issues.....
Tucked away in his hateful fantasy world.

They have places for your 113,,,as hard targets and recycle scrap.

Sore loosers never get thier due. Fade away "TrackTard"

The MGS is the vehicle to compliment the ATGM Stryker. Strykers are tough. They take a beating and save the crew,,,and come back for maore again and again,,,,this particular STRYKER "General Lee" is a shining example:
One year later, General Lee rides again
By Spc. Lindsey M. Bradford, I Corps Public Affairs Office
Published: 07:13AM June 6th, 2008

Spc. Lindsey M. Bradford
General Lee, freshly rebuilt, sits with other Strykers in the motor pool.

A little more than a year after the anti-tank guided missile Stryker dubbed General Lee was retired from Operation Iraqi Freedom, it made its return to Fort Lewis where Soldiers from 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division had been eagerly awaiting its arrival.

General Lee once belonged to Soldiers from 2nd Platoon, C Company, 52nd Infantry Regiment (Anti-Tank), 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. But on April 15, 2007, while conducting operations just south of the Shiek Hamed village in Iraq, the Stryker was hit by a deeply buried improvised explosive device.

Although the General had survived previous blasts in Iraq it was no match for the DBIED, and after returning its crew home from one last mission, it was retired and sent to Balad, where it was later shipped to General Dynamics, in Alabama, to receive some much-needed work.

“I actually processed (the General Lee) when it was at Balad,” recalled Joe Griffiths, material fielding manager for the Stryker program at Fort Lewis. “This thing was completely blown on its side. It needed new armor, a new engine and a good cleaning.”

General Lee arrived in Aniston, Ala., on May 17, 2007, and on May 21, 2008, it was inventoried and handed off to Soldiers in 2nd Squad, A Company, 52nd Infantry Regiment, 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.

Even though many Soldiers from A Co. 52nd Inf. were receiving Strykers, the General Lee was one that held a special place with all who knew of it.

“ This whole process started about two months ago, and we’ve been really eager to get our hands on it,” said Staff Sgt. Bobby Sampson, the anti-armor section platoon sergeant.

General Lee will be with a single group of Soldiers, where it will be incorporated into squad training and eventually be taken downrange with them.

“We are going to be learning with it, training on it and deploying with it. It is a great thing for us,” said Spec. Jon M. Leffers, an anti-tank gunner with 2nd Squad.

General Lee is no stranger to training or to combat.

The Stryker has seen more firefights across Iraqi terrain than most Soldiers serving in today‘s Army, and managed to keep its Soldiers safe throughout its journey.

“It’s a pretty cool thing to continue the history on with it,” said Pvt. 2nd Class Jody S. Smith, the General Lee’s new driver. “Driving Strykers is a new thing to me, but I love to learn and am excited about being able to experience it with such an infamous Stryker,” Smith said.

Not only is this vehicle unique because of all it has been through, but it is the only Stryker in the fleet authorized to keep a name — ‘General Lee’ — stenciled on the side of it, Griffiths said.

General Lee’s original crew had stenciled the name while in theater but it was later painted over when it was rebuilt at General Dynamics. The vehicle’s new crew was happy to put the name back.

“You figure it took about eight months to get (General Lee) fully functioning again, it’s here now, and we are just really glad to have it on board,” Sampson said.
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