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Stryker Concept Turns 10

Mar-29-2010 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT , Stryker Vehicle

Scott Fontaine looks back at the decade that has passed since the Stryker concept was announced.

Strykers fight enemies abroad, skeptics at home - The News Tribune

It was more than 10 years ago that Gen. Eric Shinseki announced the Army’s controversial plan to create brigades built around a medium-weight infantry carrier.

Shinseki, then the Army chief of staff, delivered a speech in October 1999 in which he said the Cold War-era force needed a versatile alternative that could move quickly into battlefields across the world.

This sparked a debate: Should the new vehicles be on wheels or tracks? How heavy is too heavy? How light is too light?

The Pentagon tapped the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division to become its test brigade. It received its first shipment of vehicles in June 2002, and took them to war 18 months later.


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