Soldiers from the US Army’s 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) have begun training on upgraded Stryker vehicles that were delivered to the brigade recently.
As part of the initiative to modernize the 56th SBCT, the brigade is set to receive 324 upgraded Stryker vehicles. Currently, twenty-five of these upgraded Strykers are stationed at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania where they are utilized for training. These new vehicles feature a “double-V” hull design, replacing the brigade’s older flat-bottom-hull Strykers.
Beyond the hull shape, the upgraded Strykers include several additional minor modifications that Soldiers must familiarize themselves with. The training program is divided into distinct sessions for drivers and maintainers and follows a “train-the-trainer” model. Upon completion of their training, the soldiers will return to their respective units to instruct their fellow soldiers.
55 soldiers are set to participate in driver training, while around 30 soldiers will undergo maintenance training. This training is being facilitated by personnel from General Dynamics Land Systems, the manufacturer of the Stryker vehicles.
Capt. Matthew McCabe, battalion logistics officer (S4) for 2nd Battalion, 112th Infantry Regiment, said: “It’s allowing these individuals to go back to their units, be the subject matter experts and it’s allowing us to get our hands on a piece of equipment that’s more modern than what we had before.”
Sgt. Robert Leamer, a vehicle commander with Alpha Co., 1st Battalion, 111th Infantry Regiment, noted that while there are a few minor distinctions between the old and new vehicles, the driving experience remains largely unchanged.
“A lot of updates seem to be with the armor, with the new hull,” Leamer said. “They have some safety features, like the emergency shut off for the fuel, and a couple of comms things, but as far as these Strykers, they seem to roll very similar to the old ones.”
The Stryker is a series of eight-wheeled armoured combat vehicles based on the Canadian LAV III. These vehicles are manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-C) for the US Army at a facility located in London, Ontario. The Stryker features a four-wheel drive system (8×4) that can be converted to all-wheel drive (8×8).
It was designed as a versatile family of vehicles intended to serve as the core of a new medium-weight brigade combat team (BCT), aiming to provide a middle ground between heavy armoured brigade combat teams and infantry brigade combat teams.
