www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/3/3/155315.shtml
Stryker: Army's Multimillion-Dollar 'Lemon,' or 'Excellent' Lemonade?
Jon E. Dougherty, NewsMax.com
Wednesday, March 3, 2004
See previous article, Controversy Surrounds Army's Stryker.
"The Army's new car is a lemon."
That's how former U.S. Treasury fraud investigator and Special Forces trooper Lonnie Shoultz describes the U.S. Army's newest armored vehicle, the Stryker. Worse, he says, it is becoming an expensive lemon.
Shoultz, a Vietnam combat veteran with the 101st Airborne Division and former Green Beret, as well as an experienced government fraud investigator, has long been vocal in his criticism of the Stryker, as well as the process the Army used to procure it.
He's not alone in his assessment. Other military analysts and experts have also come out against the implementation of the Stryker, though so far their criticism has fallen on deaf ears inside the Department of Defense; the U.S. Army wants more than 2,100 of the vehicles, in varying versions. "We've had concerns" about the Stryker, Eric Miller, senior defense investigator for the Project on Government Oversight, told NewsMax. Shoultz, who has a master's degree in history and is working toward his doctorate, believes the Army "defied the Congress of the United States by allowing a congressionally approved contract to go unmet by the contractor and not having the contractor, General Dynamics, stop work until it brought the Stryker into the parameters set out for it by Congress."
Big Dog
One of the most common complaints is the Stryker is too heavy to meet its original requirement of being able to be transported aboard C-130 aircraft ready to fight when it hits the ground. Because the Army has had to increase the amount of armor on the vehicle, to improve its survivability, it has surpassed the original weight limit.
"The entire purpose of these light brigades is to deploy in 96 hours to any trouble spot and follow-on with a brigade in four days," says Shoultz. "The only way to do that … is to utilize the Air Force's 600 C-130s. If the Strykers will not fly 1,000 miles on a C-130, they are of no use to us."
Also, says Miller, a new "cage" the Army has fashioned to the Strykers, in an effort to better protect them against RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) and other explosives, may work well but only add to the vehicle's transport weight. Also, he says, the vehicles may be less agile and, ultimately, better targets. "When you add all that weight, for example, a 5,000-pound cage, what does that do to the aerodynamics of it?"
And overall, he said he has some doubts about the vehicle's ability to perform. "We've got mixed emotions about this vehicle, as I'm sure a lot of people do," Miller said. "I understand the argument that it's better to have a Stryker than a Humvee, but the question we have is, does the Stryker do what it's supposed to?"
'Excellent'
The Army says the vehicle is performing well in Iraq, where they have been for weeks. Maj. Gary Tallman, a Pentagon spokesman, told NewsMax in January the Strykers deployed in the Iraqi theater so far had achieved a 90 percent operational readiness. "Overall performance you can characterize as excellent," Tallman said. Regarding damage, "it has shown its survivability – based on what it's encountered so far – has been high."
Strykers from the 3rd Brigade, Second Infantry Division based in Fort Lewis, Wash., were sent to Iraq in December. The were outfitted with an extra layer of armor and a steel cage intended to offer more protection against insurgents armed with RPGs, which added an additional 5,000 pounds to their overall weight. But damage and casualties have been light so far, Tallman said. He added at the time he was not aware of any RPG strikes on any Strykers. The Army also backs its new combat vehicle. The Pentagon says its first new armored vehicle in 20 years is a good replacement for the tracked M-113 armored personnel carrier, which was designed around the time of the Korean War. In announcing his decision in 1999 to procure the Stryker, then-Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki, who questioned the soldiers who had driven it, repaired it and maneuvered it through miles of pine forest at Fort Polk, in west-central Louisiana, expressed confidence it could survive on the battlefield.
"It's not a question of how much armor you can put on it," Shinseki said, adding Iraqi paramilitaries had destroyed two M1 tanks in the first Gulf War by firing at their more vulnerable rear. "The idea is to avoid taking a hit in the first place," he added, noting the Stryker's increased maneuverability. But Miller said his organization had been told maintenance had been soaring for the Strykers. "We're being told vehicles are going through a tire per day, for example," he said.
Pork-Barrel Project?
Besides worrying about its added weight, maneuverability and transportability, critics suggest cost is becoming another concern. A host of factors – inflation, unexpected production costs, and others – often occur with items bought by the government, especially by the Department of Defense. But costs for the Stryker vehicles have risen about 50 percent since the vehicles were first budgeted by the Defense Department. According to published reports, the Army first budgeted $4 billion to buy 2,131 Strykers, enough to outfit six new brigades. In rough terms, that translates into about $2 million a vehicle. Now, however, the Defense Department's latest figures show Strykers costing more than $3.3 million each. "The cost is getting way up there," Miller told NewsMax. "The acquisition cost is [getting] really high."
The author is a multiple Purple Heart veteran of an 18-month combat tour in Vietnam as a Paratrooper with the 101st Airborne Division and a Green Beret with the 5th Special Forces Group. When he returned home, he entered police work and rose thorough the ranks from uniformed patrol officer with the City of Birmingham to finally serve as a Special Agent with the U.S. Treasury Department. He holds a BS in Accounting and Finance, an MA in Military History, and has completed postgraduate academic work toward his doctorate at the University of Alabama and George Washington University in Washington, DC. He now resides in Foley, Alabama, on the Gulf Coast, and can be reached at: lshoultz@gulftel.com.