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| Iraq |
| Stryker slat armor proves effective |
| 2004-02-03 |
| 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...don’t 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. "We’re 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 |
| #4 um...reactive armor plates have a one time use (per tile/block). Slat armor I dunno how many times it can be exposed to RPG fire as most RPG's arent designed to do more than contact damage and there is quite a bit of space between the slats. The other thing to note is what the Russians did that got them into that situation in the first place. Ya got urban fighting, mechanized vehicles whose turrets could not traverse the gun to high enough of an angle or a very low angle in order to get those ambushers, and you got multiple RPG's coming in from MANY different angles at virtually the same time. |
| Posted by: Val 2004-2-3 7:45:56 PM |
| #3 "....iraqi insurgents are not as efficient as their chechen counterparts...." But they're learning tactics from them and others. U.S. Army intelligence officer said Iraqi rebels have been communicating with such outsiders through e-mail, telephone and personal visits. See Moscow Times article 1/13/04. |
| Posted by: Gasse Katze 2004-2-3 6:16:52 PM |
| #2 One particular article about the first Grozny battle mentionned some interesting tidbits about the "tanks hunters-killers" chechen teams that made a mess of russian armored columns; one of their tricks was to beat reactive armor (meant to protect against shaped charges warhead) by having a first wave of shooters hit a given area with rpg, and then following with a second one aimed at the exposed spot. My general feeling is that iraqi insurgents are not as efficient as their chechen counterparts (and that US troops are better trained than russian ones), but I wonder if they may turn to that kind of stunts vs slat armor? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-2-3 4:33:42 PM |
| #1 I'd hope that a few RPG rounds (among other things) hit Strykers during testing... |
| Posted by: snellenr 2004-2-3 11:00:26 AM |