STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich., 8 Nov. 2005. Army soldiers have driven Stryker combat vehicles for more than six million miles on missions throughout Iraq since October 2003.
Troops in two 3,900-soldier Stryker Brigade Combat Team rotations used the vehicles for assignments ranging from Fallujah, Baghdad and the Euphrates River Valley to the Tigris River Valley and Mosul.
Now Army leaders are bringing the vehicles home for refurbishing.
Under a $69 million contract from the U.S. Army TACOM Lifecycle Management Command, General Dynamics Land Systems will service, repair, and modify 265 Stryker infantry combat vehicles, restoring them to a pre-combat, like-new condition in advance of reissuing the vehicles prior to their next deployment.
The reset work is slated to begin in mid-November by existing General Dynamics employees in Sterling Heights; London, Ontario, Canada; and at Fort Lewis, Wash. Work is expected to be complete by Sept. 30, 2006.
Stryker is the Army's highest-priority production combat vehicle program and the centerpiece of the ongoing Army Transformation. The Stryker family of eight-wheel-drive combat vehicles can travel at speeds up to 62 mph on highways, with a range of 312 miles.
The armored vehicles enable Army teams to maneuver easily in close and urban terrain, while providing protection in open terrain. Performance highlights include:
* C-130 transportability;
* networked command, control, computing and communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) capability;
* integral 14.5mm armor protection and 152mm artillery airburst protection;
* self-deployment and self-recovery capability;
* reduced vehicle acoustic signature;
* ability to carry a nine-man infantry or engineer squad; and
* bunker and wall breaching capability.
Stryker vehicle configurations include carriers for mortars, engineer squads, infantry squads, command groups, and fire support teams; a nuclear, biological and chemical reconnaissance vehicle; anti-tank guided missile and medical evacuation vehicles; and the Mobile Gun System, a 105mm cannon mounted in a low-profile turret that is integrated into the Stryker chassis.
The Army recently approved the Mobile Gun System and the Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicle for low-rate production, and the first MGS and NBCRV vehicles are slated for delivery to the Army this month.
General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., employs approximately 71,900 people worldwide and had 2004 revenue of $19.2 billion. The company is a market leader in mission-critical information systems and technologies; land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions; shipbuilding and marine systems; and business aviation. For more information, see www.generaldynamics.com or www.gdls.com.
