Первые полевые испытания "страйкера" завершились полным провалом
У американцев прошли учения Millennium Challenge 2002, в которых приняло участие 16 новых машин. По итогам был написан доклад АТЕС, который машину порвал на тряпки. Якобы в армии США машину уже переименовали из Striker в Strike-here ("бей сюда").
Из доклада,
- он таки не лезет в С-130 (ради чего его собственно делали)
- его оружием нельзя пользоваться на ходу (несмотря на то, что система оружия теоретически является полностью стабилизированной), в результате чего в одном из сценариев учений от стрелкового огня и огня легкой техники было потеряно 13 машин из 14, а в другом сценарии "страйкеры" не поразили ни единой машины противника
- после 96-часовой игры, на 16 машинах вышло из строя 13 колес
- в машине настолько тесно, что десант внутри испытывал трудности даже с питьем из фляжек, не говоря уж об обслуживании личного оружия.
и все это за каких-то 2000000 баксов за штуку.
Army times 9/16/02
Stryker falls short in first major field test
By Frank Tiboni
Staff Writer
FORT IRWIN, Calif. — The Stryker’s debut in a joint war game exposed flaws in the U.S. Army’s new armored personnel carrier, according to initial service observations. The biggest problem was difficulty loading the 107-inch-wide vehicle on a C-130 Hercules transport plane.
“Very little can be stowed in its proper place due to C-130 loading restrictions,” said “Stryker Findings,” an Aug. 6 document produced by observers from the Army’s Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC), the Alexandria, Va.-based organization that monitors the service’s weapon system acquisition and development. The authors of the 21-page document also found other faults with the $2 million Stryker’s performance in last month’s Millennium Challenge 2002 U.S. military
exercise, including:
• Its gun and grenade launcher — the remote weapon station — could not find and fire at the enemy while moving. This proved fatal during the war game, which pitted the new vehicles against infantry troops and Soviet-made armored personnel carriers. Thirteen of 14 Strykers were destroyed by small arms fire, grenades and guns mounted on enemy vehicles, during ambushes and other encounters on one of the exercise’s missions. On one of the simulated missions, the Strykers failed to kill a single enemy vehicle.
• A total of 13 tires on the 16 Strykers needed replacement during the 96-hour war game.
• The Stryker interior is so cramped that troops inside found it difficult to drink from their canteens.
Army spokesmen, however, said Stryker performed very well. “These are ‘hot wash’ perceptions from some observers very early in the exercise,” Army spokesman Carl Mahnken said Sept. 13. “Most point to initial shortfalls in crew training, including for air load that were rapidly remedied. Validated data and actual evaluations from many sources throughout the entire exercise are still being assessed, but it's clear that the Stryker's performance was outstanding.”
ATEC spokesman Warren Field said in a Sept. 13 statement that the document reflects initial observations by command observers at Millennium Challenge 2002. The document was “one of many data inputs to an evaluation that will result in a report to be published in the future,” Field said. He declined further comment about the document, saying that ATEC policy is not to discuss internal working documents.
One senior industry source criticized the complaints. “The next thing they’ll be complaining about is that the cup holders are too small,” the source said. Officials with GM GDLS Defense Group LLC, Sterling Heights, Mich., declined to comment on the details in the document. “Our role is to wait until the Army does a coordinated review of the data and sorts out those items that should be looked at for a materiel fix,” Pete Keating, GM GDLS spokesman, said Sept. 13.
Keating said the Army’s job is to look at leadership, training, doctrine and organization issues related to Stryker; GM GDLS’s job is to look at materiel.
Keating said the issues with the Stryker and its remote weapon station are typical of the Army’s new acquisition process. Development, testing and fielding happen more or less at the same time in an effort to get equipment to soldiers more quickly. “There is a rigorous qualification process ongoing with the fielding of the remote weapon station,” Keating said. “As we identify improvements, we’ll make those adjustments.” The joint venture company comprises Sterling Heights, Mich.-based General Dynamics Land Systems and General Motors Defence, London, Ontario, which builds the Light Armored Vehicle-3 upon which the Stryker is based.
Tight Squeezes
The ATEC document indicated that Stryker may not yet meet one of the top requirements for the $4 billion, two-year-old program: that it be easily transportable aboard C-130s. The armored personnel carrier’s width has been a concern since the Army unveiled the 8x8-wheeled vehicle in April.
The Air Force, which has not yet certified the vehicle for transport aboard C-130s, granted a waiver to lift four Strykers during the August war game, held at the Army’s National Training Center here. To fit a Stryker aboard a C-130, soldiers removed ammunition from external racks and stowed it inside the cabin, the document said. Soldiers also had to disassemble and remove the remote weapon station, which includes an MK 19 40mm grenade launcher and a .50-caliber machine gun. “Many exterior parts must be removed prior to loading on the C-130,” the document said.
Although the Army has touted Stryker’s smooth ride and spacious quarters, the ATEC document cited comments from drivers and embarked troops who found otherwise. “Squad members found it difficult to access a canteen, drink, then restow it,” the document said. “Squad [members] found it difficult to access ammunition and load personal weapons.” Soldiers said they did not have enough room in the Stryker to put on their protective clothing and equipment, the document
said. Vehicle drivers also had no accessible, secure space in which to store Kevlar helmets and night-vision goggles.
Gun Problems
A more serious issue, according to the document, was problems discovered with the remote weapon station during combat tests it faced during Millennium Challenge, a three-week, $250 million military exercise intended to experiment with U.S. military equipment and tactics. For example the gun could not fire accurately while the Stryker was moving. “The remote weapon station must come to a halt to engage targets,” the document said. “This takes on average two
minutes.” The document also said the weapon station on one Stryker failed to operate. In addition, soldiers had difficulty drawing a clear picture of enemy forces with the remote weapon station’s periscope, the document said. Instead, soldiers had to expose themselves, sticking their heads out of the hatches and using
night-vision goggles and the telescopic sights on their Javelin anti-tank missiles.
Soldiers’ Support
Stryker soldiers who participated in Millennium Challenge 2002 supported the Army’s selection of the Stryker as the base vehicle for the service’s new rapid reaction force. “The Stryker’s job is to get dismounted soldiers to the fight quickly,” 1st Lt. Kirby Dennis, a Stryker platoon leader at Fort Lewis, Wash., said in an Aug. 6 interview. Dennis said Stryker’s mobility enabled his platoon to circle the enemy — covering 97 miles in seven hours — and seize a theater ballistic missile site. Maximum speed on a hard surface is 62 mph. Private 1st Class Tyler Coughlon, who joined the Stryker platoon four months ago, also raved about the vehicle. Coughlon said Aug. 6 that an armored personnel carrier that transports him fresh to the fight, instead of having to hike 20 miles carrying 80 pounds of gear, is a great benefit.
Soon after August media reports cited Pentagon officials’ concerns about the Stryker’s suitability for C-130 airlift, the Army’s public affairs office distributed to its spokesmen a list of recommended talking points about the vehicle. According to the Aug. 26 document, the four airlifted Strykers required only minor changes for
airlift and were made ready for combat about 15 minutes after disembarking. The five-page document also highlighted Stryker’s reliability, noting that the 16 vehicles were ready 98 percent of the time.
The new vehicles will outfit the six Stryker Brigade Combat Teams, which compose the interim force in the Army’s transformation to a lighter, rapidly deployable force. Each brigade and its 366 vehicles are intended to be able to move on C-130s anywhere in the world in four days. The first team will receive its Strykers in January and is supposed to be combat ready by May.
Fatal Flaws?
One defense consultant said the ATEC observations indicate the vehicle is fatally flawed. “The Stryker is nothing more than a thinly armored truck that can’t shoot on the move and exposes the vehicle commander to enemy fire in order to reload a puny machine gun,” said Michael Sparks, co-author of “Air-Mech-Strike: Three-Dimensional Phalanx,” a book on future service warfighting tactics. Sparks, a lieutenant of paratroopers in the Army Reserve, said he supports the Army’s effort to create a medium-weight, rapid-reaction force but suggests a different vehicle. “Just because the Strykers fail as viable combat platforms does not mean today’s Army can do without C-130 transportable, armored, mechanized, digitally connected units that rapidly deploy without need of ports or airfields,” Sparks
said.
