Strykers getting repairs, upgrades
FORT LEWIS, Wash. – After logging thousands of miles during their first two years in Iraq, the Army’s Stryker vehicles are getting an overhaul before being sent back with soldiers.
The eight-wheeled armored vehicles are being worked on by mechanics from General Dynamics Land Systems Inc., which made the Strykers and has a $69 million Army contract to restore them. Maintenance is taking place at this post south of Seattle and at a company yard in Auburn.
The Strykers arrived home by ship in late October. They were used for a year in Iraq by the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, then another year with their successors from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. Average mileage across the fleet of roughly 285 vehicles is more than 20,000, officials said.
Maj. Robert Berg, who heads the Stryker acquisition and reset programs at Fort Lewis, said the vehicles have held up well.
“Overall, they’re a lot better off than I thought they’d be,” said Berg, who spent several months last year working on the vehicles in Iraq with the 3rd Brigade.
General Motors Corp. and General Dynamics Corp., a defense contractor in Falls Church, Va., were awarded a $4 billion Army contract to produce 2,100 vehicles to serve six brigades – three of which are based at Fort Lewis.
The Strykers’ addition to the Army in 2002 was criticized by some who said at $2 million each it was too expensive, too heavy and inferior to other vehicles.
However, they’ve been praised by senior generals and young privates alike for their speed, maneuverability, communications systems and the protection they provide from improvised explosive devices, a weapon commonly used by the insurgency in Iraq.
The most heavily damaged vehicles remain overseas, at General Dynamics’ main repair facility in Qatar. About 50 company mechanics also traveled to Iraq with the Stryker brigades, performing routine maintenance and repairs.
In Washington state, about three weeks will be spent on each Stryker replacing damaged armor, drive trains, transmission and each of the 350-pound tires.
Each vehicle’s remote weapons station – it allows gunners to see in the dark and fire from inside – will be shipped to Norway, where manufacturer Kongsberg Protech is installing upgraded electronics, said project manager John Ball.
About 185 are supposed to be finished by the end of June, when the 3rd Brigade will take a mix of refurbished and new Strykers back to Iraq. The remaining Strykers are to be done by Sept. 30, and some will be shipped to Hawaii, where the newest Stryker Brigade Combat Team is forming.
It’s been rewarding to see how the Strykers held up, said Ball, who usually works at the General Dynamics production facility in New London, Ontario.
One example was a vehicle that had its hull warped but not penetrated when it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
Soldiers have also made their own improvements to the Strykers: mini refrigerators, coffee pots and video game systems.
“They were literally living in these vehicles,” Ball said.