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Stryker slat armor proves effective
Hat tip: Murdoc Online. Edited for brevity.A change made to the Stryker infantry vehicle has proven itself in combat. The Stryker, an eight-wheeled infantry transporter, is an armored vehicle designed to stop 124.5 mm rounds. Critics said the main threat in Iraq is rocket-propelled grenades, and that the vehicle would not provide protection from them. Um...donât they mean "14.5mm"? Army officials outfitted the Strykers with what the soldiers call a "cage." The slat armor put on the vehicles in Kuwait does look like a cage. It encircles the vehicle and gives added protection to the body of the Stryker. It is slats placed about 18 inches away from the main body. The theory was that an RPG would hit the slat and "defuse" between the slat and the main armor, said Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, the brigade commander. The theory was exactly right, he said. "A bit earlier this morning there was an RPG attack against a Stryker vehicle in the eastern part of Mosul," he said to reporters traveling with Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. "It was the second attack against a Stryker, but the first to strike the slat armor. "It did exactly was it was intended to do," he continued. "When the round impacted on the slat armor, it detonated the warhead. The round defused in that space." There were no casualties of any kind, he said, and there was "very, very minor damage to the vehicle." The crew continued its patrol. The patrol was conducting neighborhood engagement, interacting with local citizens. "Weâre not surprised the slat armor worked the way it was intended to, and we continue to have great confidence in the Stryker vehicle," Ham said. All of the 300-plus Strykers in the brigade have this cage. Not the first time an RPG has hit a Stryker, but the first time the slat armor came into play. Posted by: Dar 2004-02-03 |
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