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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