Study finds new Army vehicle too vulnerable

The Army’s new state-of-the art infantry vehicle slated to make its combat debut in Iraq in October is vulnerable to the kind of rocket-propelled grenades now being used by Saddam Hussein’s guerrillas, a consultant’s report charges.

The Army, which rebuts the report’s findings, plans to send 300 Stryker armored vehicles and 3,600 soldiers to Iraq. This first Stryker brigade will help put down the resistance that has killed more 60 American troopers since May 1. It will also be a preview of a lighter, more mobile Army for the 21st century.

But a report prepared for Rep. James H. Saxton, New Jersey Republican, says the vehicle is ill-suited for such warfare.

“Poorly armored and entirely vulnerable to RPGs,” states the glossy, 108-page report prepared July 18 by consultant Victor O’Reilly.

An Army spokesman, however, said the Strykers are being fitted with added armor. This will “drastically increase their protection against kinetic energy weapons and increase RPG protection,” said Lt. Col. Stephen Barger, spokesman for 1st Corps at Fort Lewis, Wash., where the brigade is being developed.

As part of an accelerated development, the Army did not require Strykers to immediately feature anti-RPG armor. The brigade going to Iraq is now being fitted with slat armor. It works like a big catcher’s mask, stopping a grenade before it reaches the Stryker’s main body, thus keeping the explosion at a distance. Eventually, the Strykers will be fitted with more permanent armor now being tested.

The Stryker has successfully passed live-fire tests against rifle and machine-gun fire. The slat armor system has also shown in tests that it protects against grenade blasts.

Mr. O’Reilly, who said he did the report at his own expense, says even with the added armor the Stryker’s top and wheel wells are susceptible to RPGs that could kill all 13 soldiers inside the Stryker’s infantry carrier version.

The Pentagon this year signed off on a plan to procure enough Stryker vehicles to equip the first four of six brigades, which would become the vanguard of a lighter, quicker deploying Army. Despite Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s program approval, a number of Stryker skeptics remain within the active Army, and among former soldiers and members of Congress.

None is more vocal than Mr. Saxton, a House Armed Services Committee member. He succeeded during debate on next year’s defense budget to “fence” $300 million in procurement funds until the Army answers operational questions.

Mr. Saxton fears the Stryker is not only vulnerable to RPG fire, but is also overweight and cannot easily fit into a C-130 transport plane — a feat that is supposed to be one of its best selling points.

The Stryker is actually a family of 10 vehicles that gets around on wheels, not the traditional rolling tracks. They include the infantry carrier vehicle, the mobile gun system, the anti-tank guided missile, the mortar carrier and the reconnaissance vehicle.

After the Army took weeks to deploy a relatively small Apache helicopter unit on the Kosovo border in 1999, Gen. Eric Shinseki, then the chief of staff, moved to lighten the force. One of his answers was to develop a family of light, wheeled vehicles that eventually became the Stryker family.

Mr. O’Reilly’s report, “Stryker Brigades Versus the Reality of War,” is being circulated on Capitol Hill and among the active force and retirement community. Among his conclusions on the eight-wheel, 20-ton infantry carrier version:

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