Recent troop losses in Iraq raise new questions about Stryker

By Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP)

- A string of heavy losses from powerful roadside bombs has raised new questions about the vulnerability of the Stryker, the Army's troop-carrying vehicle hailed by supporters as the key to a leaner, more mobile force.

Since the Strykers went into action in violent Diyala province north of Baghdad two months ago, losses of the vehicles have been rising steadily, U.S. officials said.

A single infantry company in Diyala lost five Strykers this month in less than a week, according to soldiers familiar with the losses, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to release the information. The overall number of Strykers lost recently is classified.

In one of the biggest hits, six American soldiers based at Fort Lewis, Wash., and a journalist were killed when a huge bomb exploded beneath their Stryker on May 6. It was the biggest one-day loss for the battalion in more than two years.

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Unfortunately for the BFEE, the quickest and safest way to solve the Stryker's problems is to give the fucking things to the insurgents so THEY can go out and get blown up in them, and buy Russian-made BTR-90 carriers for our people.

The BTR-90 has one huge advantage over the Stryker. The Stryker was developed by peacetime engineers. The BTR-90 was developed by first building the BTR-60 (which was used to invade Czechoslovakia), lessons from which were used to develop the BTR-70, which never saw combat (thank God for that--you can't get out of the fucking thing while it's moving), but lessons from which were used to develop the BTR-80, which the Soviets used in Afghanistan. Lessons from the BTR-80 were incorporated into the BTR-90.

The Russians thought of something when they designed the BTR series vehicles that WE should have thought of: the people we're shooting at will have the RPG-7. The Stryker is designed to protect the crew from 14.7mm rounds fired from the DshK-38 heavy machinegun. That's awful nice of them, except that your average bad guy doesn't fucking WANT a Dashika. The thing is huge, it's heavy, it takes time to set it up, it takes at least four guys to move one (one for the receiver, one for the tripod and two carrying barrels, because you always carry a spare barrel with a machinegun) and a mule to haul around all the ammo. It's also expensive and loud. The RPG-7 is a different story: one man can carry an RPG-7 launcher and three rounds with ease. The RPG uses the "shaped charge" principle to melt holes in the sides of vehicles like the Stryker. Defending against this takes a different kind of armor than it takes to stop bullets. The BTR-90, because it was designed after people fired RPGs at its predecessor, will stop an RPG round. It was also designed with the IED threat in mind because the Afghanis used IEDs against the BTR-80.