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National Guard, states want more Strykers

Apr-28-2007 » Filed Under: Stryker Vehicle

By Kris Osborn, Army Times

Lt. Gen. Steven Blum wants more Stryker brigades for the U.S. National Guard he commands, adding a powerful voice to the chorus of states — including Alabama, California, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada and Oregon — that want more of the 20-ton, eight-wheeled armored combat vehicles.

“If the Army would identify a requirement for additional Stryker units in the Army National Guard, we would welcome that dramatically,” Blum told members of Congress on April 20. “It offers protection and see-more, know-more and act-faster kind of capabilities. I would love to have had a Stryker brigade in Katrina,” referring to the disaster response in the U.S. Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The Army plans to have one $1.2 billion Stryker brigade in the National Guard and six in the active-duty ranks, but that could change if Strykers are added to the Guard, say Army officials. The Guard has a $13.1 billion equipment shortfall, Blum said.

“The performance of the Stryker in Iraq has been remarkable,” said Brig. Gen. Lou Antonetti, adjutant general of the California National Guard. “The Stryker will assist us in saving more lives in a natural and manmade disaster. Being watertight, the Stryker can go across deep water so it could be a great tool in the event of a flood. It can evacuate civilians and has a rubber-tire system, which will do little damage to the civilian infrastructure, unlike heavy-tracked vehicles.”

Mississippi, Alabama and Kentucky have offered to share a Stryker brigade, as have Oregon, Nevada and California, Antonetti said.

The Stryker “delivers a highly mobile and survivable combat vehicle that in many ways is ideally suited for both counterinsurgency operations and disaster response,” Republican Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour wrote in a Feb. 22 letter to Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., and Rep. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.

Barbour’s letter says Strykers and their communications gear would help prevent the kind of problems that hamstrung the 2005 Katrina disaster-relief efforts.

“An additional brigade in the Army National Guard would provide our troops improved combat capability and force protection, and a more rapid comprehensive response to state missions in Mississippi,” Barbour writes.

At the moment, the only National Guard unit with Stryker vehicles is Pennsylvania. [...]


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