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Stryker, a family of eight-wheel-drive combat vehicles, is the Army's
highest-priority production combat vehicle program and the centerpiece of the
ongoing Army Transformation. Stryker can travel at speeds up to 62 mph on roads
with a range of 312 miles. Stryker operates with the latest C4ISR equipment and
an integrated armor package protecting soldiers against improvised explosive
devices, rocket propelled grenades and a variety of infantry weapons. Stryker's
current combined fleet operational readiness rate is 96 percent with more than
six million miles accumulated through two completed Operation Iraqi Freedom
rotations. To augment its protection against
RPG attacks, the Stryker
vehicle was equipped with a slat-armor cage as an intermediary protection.
Further upgrades include reactive armor modules, currently in development under
a US$6.7 million US Army contract awarded Sept 15, 2006. The delivery of the
reactive armor kits is expected by March 2007.
To support future Stryker upgrades, primarily for the integration into the "Stryker
Warrior" and follow-on future combat system architecture, General Dynamics
Land Systems is developing a new Power and Data Management Architecture (PDMA)
to support future Stryker upgrades and improvements. PDMA system will provide
the Stryker with the power and processing capability needed to deploy enhanced
integrated capability for current fielded and future production Strykers. In
October 2006 The company has been awarded a $3.3 million contract from the U.S.
Army Tank Automotive Command TACOM for the initial 12 month phase of a
development program which span over four years.
In September 2006 the U.S. Army ordered additional 109 Stryker wheeled combat
vehicles from General Dynamics Land Systems, under three recent orders valued at
US$155 million, increasing the Army's fiscal year 2006 Stryker procurement to a
total of 518 vehicles. Manufacturing of the new vehicles will be completed by
October 2008. To date, General Dynamics has delivered more than 1,780 Strykers
of the 2,691 included in the U.S. Army's plans for seven Stryker Brigade Combat
Teams.
GDLS is also producing the Light Armored Vehicles (LAV-A2) for the U.S. Marine
Corps. The company was recently awarded a contract for $189 million for 151 of
the improved A2 variants, as well as 394 conversion kits for existing LAV
vehicles, modifying the turret with an electric drives to replace the hydraulic
systems in existing vehicle's turret, made by Delco.
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