- 6 hours ago
With over 3,000 units in service, the Stryker armored infantry carrier vehicle has become one of the most ubiquitous vehicles in the Army. Able to transport nine dismounted infantry soldiers along with the driver and vehicle commander, the Stryker features a variety of powerful weapons systems. Atop the Dragoon variant sits a 30 mm autocannon as well as a coaxial machine gun.
With a base unit price of $5 million, the Dragoon variant requires another $5 million upgrade for its high-tech weapons system.
Chief video correspondent Graham Flanagan embedded with the Army's 2nd Cavalry Regiment during a training exercise in southern Germany, where he got an in-depth tour of the vehicle from crew members and rode in the vehicle during a combat simulation where Strykers transported soldiers to the fight before firing on an enemy stronghold.
With a base unit price of $5 million, the Dragoon variant requires another $5 million upgrade for its high-tech weapons system.
Chief video correspondent Graham Flanagan embedded with the Army's 2nd Cavalry Regiment during a training exercise in southern Germany, where he got an in-depth tour of the vehicle from crew members and rode in the vehicle during a combat simulation where Strykers transported soldiers to the fight before firing on an enemy stronghold.
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TechTranscript
00:00this is the striker the army's eight-wheeled armored combat vehicle this is a view from
00:10inside the driver's seat I went inside the striker during a training exercise with the
00:16army's 2nd cavalry regiment in southern Germany so right now we are on the Autobahn the mission
00:22started with a 40-mile convoy on the German Autobahn to a remote training area where the
00:28strikers moved to seize an enemy stronghold I was there every step of the way leading up to
00:36the final battle to find out what it takes to be part of a striker crew how the vehicle works
00:42and what its weapons can do what does it feel like when you squeeze the trigger ecstasy would
00:54be the closest word I could get to it the Dragoon striker variant features a remotely controlled
01:0130 millimeter autocannon and a coaxial machine gun known as an infantry carrier vehicle or ICV it
01:13transports soldiers who dismount when they arrive at an objective it has a baseline unit price of about
01:20five million dollars the upgraded Dragoon variant costs about 10 million today there are about 3,000
01:28strikers in service so why are strikers so ubiquitous according to the army strikers are more agile than
01:36heavy armored vehicles like the M1 Abrams tank and the Bradley fighting vehicle but more durable and
01:43capable than light infantry vehicles like the Humvee each striker has two dedicated crew members the
01:50driver and the vehicle commander who also controls the weapons over here is the VC seat so what is this
01:58thing in your hand right now pretty much it's our joystick to help control the gun but in order to
02:01engage that you have to engage this palm trigger first and then shoot so I'm told that when it comes to
02:08being on a striker crew the most ideal position is that of the driver even though you have the most
02:14responsibility it's the most comfortable spot in the vehicle a lot more space a cushioned area to lay
02:22down and also I'm told that the driver must get a certain amount of sleep they get more rest than
02:30everybody else because they're in charge of driving the vehicle and have to be rested and alert and
02:34everything else that comes with being a driver in the cab there's space for nine dismounted
02:41infantry soldiers this exercise uses the totality of my squadron the squadron consists of about 600
02:50people and it has 74 strikers a whole myriad of different strikers allow us to move rapidly to the
02:57battlefield and then close with and destroy the enemy to either fight for information from a reconnaissance
03:01roll or to destroy or neutralize and hold terrain designed by General Dynamics land systems the first
03:10strikers entered service in 2003 in Iraq some early strikers featured a 105 millimeter cannon similar to
03:18the ones used by M1 Abrams tanks known as the mobile gun system this variant was retired in 2022
03:27today along with the dragoons cannon different striker variants utilize weapons like mortars
03:37smoke grenades and javelin missiles the Department of Defense initially invested about 16 billion dollars
03:50in the striker platform through 2011 since then the total investment including procurement and upgrades
03:57totals at least about twenty one point six billion so we're here at the two CR motor pool all these
04:04vehicles will move out in a convoy down to the training area and right now the soldiers are just doing
04:11checks on the vehicles making sure everything's ready to go so behind me you see a different iteration
04:17of the striker vehicle it's got that box that you can see and that box is a laser rangefinder and
04:23that's used to shoot a beam that can go up to 20 kilometers away that can find targets that can be
04:30fired upon by artillery and other weapons systems
04:33we are on the autobahn as you can see they have to use their turn signal just like any other vehicle
04:47powered by diesel fuel it can reach speeds of about 65 miles per hour the two CR strikers drive about 40 miles
05:01to the remote home fills training area referred to by the soldiers as the box the trains a little bit
05:11different here from our home station much more mountainous so it's really just a great training
05:16opportunity for us to get away from our home environment practice some things we normally
05:20don't get to the striker has eight wheels each tire about four feet in diameter the vehicle has a central
05:29inflation system that allows the driver to adjust tire pressure based on terrain conditions and run
05:35flat tires that continue working even when punctured the striker is well suited to urban terrain and flat roads
05:43but going off-road can create some problems as we saw in the box so right now one strikers having a bit
05:55of difficulty getting up an incline it's tried about four times and keeps getting snagged what's going on
06:01right now basically the dreams are too heavy the grounds too wet so we're trying to get up probably
06:06about a 20 degree angle why is it too heavy it's about a 38,000 pounds its base weight is about 18 tons but
06:18we can approach 20 tons when loaded with weapons cargo and soldiers
06:27is this a surmountable it's pretty typical I mean these vehicles they're designed to go off-road but
06:36they're not as great as track vehicles sometimes so after a few attempts the striker decided to try to
06:43find another route so we've now moved into the wood line after the strikers found routes they could
06:51traverse they came to this spot here for emplacement basically where they set up shop and started to
06:58set up a camouflage net to sort of break up the outline of the vehicle to obscure it not make it so
07:04obvious to the enemy unlike its armored eight-wheeled counterparts like Russia's BTR and China's ZBL platforms
07:14the striker is not amphibious but compared to those vehicles it's believed to offer stronger protection
07:24to its crew its upgraded armored steel hull can withstand blasts from rocket-propelled grenades
07:34and IEDs but not tank fire we asked two vehicle commanders to give us a tour of the striker how long
07:43have you been working with striker vehicles my whole career actually I was stationed at Fort Lewis where they
07:50had strikers and when I came here I was lucky enough to get a striker with a bigger gun this is the main
07:57gun the XM 813 it shoots the 30 millimeter Bushmaster and this is the M240 Charlie coaxial machine gun they
08:07are both controlled from underneath the turret the gunner seat it has its own computer screen looking
08:12through the VIM or the TEM visual imaging module thermal imaging module which is all located right here we
08:18have seawire two strands we usually use it to set up a defense seawire is able to disrupt both dismounted
08:25and mounted movements for the enemy so this is the cable cutter it ensures that the crew whenever
08:31driving through towns if there's low-hanging wires or anything that we can't see if we're standing out
08:35of the hatch it'll actually cut that and make sure we don't get injured in any way would you say this
08:40is a fun job like being part of the striker's greatest job of all time why I get to do everything I want
08:47to do shoot giant guns play army man I'm not playing anymore sergeant Weber my job is to be
08:56a vehicle commander to involve shooting and moving and communicating with the trucks so we're gonna
09:01we're gonna take you up so this here's our driver's hole where the whole truck operates from besides the
09:09shooting part all the moving components are in here so we have our called a black box basically a
09:14fuse system so if anything goes down we usually say pop the 300s which is amping more power to
09:20that system you need this right here is our engine controls so this is how you start it this is your
09:25high idle this is your cold start and then you just have your standard steering wheel with blinkers
09:31so you got reverse neutral drive in the center this helps the driver drive at night it's called the DV
09:37drivers visual enhancement system this is where we can communicate with the whole crew through this
09:43little system cool can I get in there yep yeah this is a view from inside the driver's seat of the
09:52striker is pretty tight the top of the steering wheel is almost at the top of your knees so it's not
09:59it's not like a bumblebee get out of there I wouldn't recommend putting your tallest dude in here really
10:04no okay so yeah is that typical that like the the driver is a little shorter you striker so up here
10:12is usually where we store ammo and load the weapon system of the 30 mic auto cannon if you look inside
10:19you got a tray with a round sit we got our camera that helps us engage targets and see or vim which is
10:26our day site helps to see during the day and then our Tim which is our thermal site helps to see at
10:32night so we're about to go into the cab it's usually where we fit the other nine members of the striker
10:37crew otherwise known as the dismounts right here is where our air guards if we need them so they can
10:43see out the back cover the blind spots of the truck sites the left and the right our MRE heater so we
10:49don't even need to rely on the MRE heater out there we can just use it inside the truck also
10:54they come with a seatbelt just like that you can tighten it up here this is to prevent when a rollover
11:00for you flying into your buddy's lap or your buddy flying into your lap do rollovers happen I
11:05personally have been in only one and it's not a full rollover it was a tip most of the time they're not
11:11the truck will tip over not fully rollover but both are bad over here is the VC seat it's a little
11:19crammed as well it could be worse for me I have long legs so this is always fun so what is this
11:25thing in your hand right now it's our joystick to help control the gun and it relies on your wrist
11:30to move it from side to side up and down and all around you have to engage this palm trigger first
11:36and then shoot when you go to fire you identify the target you get a range on them you go all right
11:43I need to use the autocannon for this so I will flip it because you keep it in the middle for safety
11:48flip down to the main at that point you move over to here to switch between ammo types HE and AP
11:54armor piercing high explosive right now we have set to HE so let's say there's a lightly armored truck
12:00call it up go all right at this point you have this safety off you have this set up at this point
12:07you flip this oh all right cool bring a shoot second to last safety grab it call up hey this is what
12:14I'm engaging on the way bam bam bam bam bam bam so this this has some pretty sophisticated
12:20uh targeting system oh yeah I say um zoom in zoom out auto focus to help zero and get those things
12:28looking pristine and perfect so this is the VC spot so this is where when we're rolling down the road
12:34just general maintenance or anything like that that's where I'll sit and watch for the driver
12:38because there's blind spots and you can't see it all the time and then we have our emergency exit
12:43this little hatch here yep there's our emergency exit and the truck catches fire and the driver
12:49can't get out for some odd reason he'll crawl through his hill hole over his gear and my gear and get out
12:55so that's the striker our ICVD it's a lot of fun it's very lethal and it's a lot of fun what makes
13:04just the soldiers and the men that operate them and the equipment they trust us with and to shoot
13:08with I've been working with strikers for six years and it never gets old because it's just loud and
13:12moves quick if you need it to you can move slow if you need it to nothing beats the feeling of standing
13:16on top and just taking in the sights after the tour it was time to go for a ride all right so we're about
13:24to leave this area and head into the box and I'm actually going to ride in the striker first we're
13:30going to have you put on this kit
13:34how's it going good where should I sit make yourself comfortable with everything all right
13:40all right so I'm in the striker now and I've got seat belt on kit helmet
13:47it's actually a little comfortable yeah it's comfortable for a little bit until you're sitting
13:52here for a while yeah rolling along it's comfy actually it's a smooth ride there's like very little
13:59turbulence I know that once that'll change probably once we get deeper into the training area but
14:03yeah which is why we have the helmets right
14:10so we're driving along in the striker now it's um it's going at a pretty fast clip now I guess about
14:1650 miles an hour it definitely like smells like fuel and air when you're in the striker there's no
14:22windows you don't know where you are you hear occasional radio chatter about uh the position the
14:28destination where we're heading you don't really have awareness of where you are what's great
14:33knowledge hey I'm just coming to you
14:43okay uh we just rode in the striker for about part of an hour looks pretty chill right now but of course
14:49that can change at any time the dismounts moved into the wood line while the strikers moved into
14:57position to fire on the objective a trench held by the opposing force or op4
15:07that noise you hear behind me is the 50 caliber machine gun mounted on the striker vehicle
15:13the striker suppressed the enemy trench with the machine gun
15:22allowing the dismounts to move in on foot and seize the objective
15:28when we saw the machine guns from the strikers starting to fire on the objective that's when the
15:32assault team was able to make just sort of a head-on assault or attack and it didn't take long before
15:39they neutralized it and seized it with more than 3 000 vehicles in active service and more than 3
15:48billion in investments committed to the platform through 2030 it appears the striker is here to stay
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