The Army has approved changes to the fiscal year 2008 Stryker vehicle contract with General Dynamics [GD] to create a fleet of Stryker Theater Provided Equipment (TPE) in Afghanistan, according to officials.
“PM (program manager) Stryker is procuring the same number of Stryker vehicles as was originally contracted; the change is that the variant configuration will be modified to support the announced deployment to Afghanistan,” Lt. Col. Martin Downie, an Army spokesman, told Defense Daily.
“The plan is that 5/2 SBCT will leave their Stryker vehicles in Afghanistan, except for the MGS and NBCRV that will redeploy, and the change in the current vehicle order will be produced and available for 5/2 SBCT within four months of their redeployment.”
Congress and the Office of the Secretary of Defense have been briefed on the plan.
Changing conditions meant the Army could better use supplemental funds and adjust Stryker vehicle production specifically for vehicles to support Afghanistan missions.
The FY ’08 supplemental funds included buying Stryker Medical Evacuation Vehicles (MEV) for the Heavy Brigade Combat Teams deploying to Iraq, according to officials familiar with the change. However, the drawdown of forces in Iraq and the fielding of Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected ambulances reduced the requirement for Stryker MEVs. Additionally, a Stryker BCT was added to the deployment schedule for Afghanistan.
This meant the Army could adjust the FY ’08 Stryker vehicle contract–which would include the MEVs for Iraq–to build a set of Stryker vehicles for Afghanistan. The Army calls this a Stryker Theater Provided Equipment set.
About one third of the 677 vehicles in the contract will be reconfigured for the brigade set of vehicles, with government furnished equipment, C4ISR equipment and armor.
The cost of the changes–some $60 million, sources said, will be funded with current supplemental dollars already in the Stryker program. Additionally, the contract changes will not incur contractual penalties.
Wendy Staiger, General Dynamics program director for U.S. Operations for Stryker, said the model mix of reconfigured Stryker vehicles would primarily be infantry carriers, some mortar carriers and some commander’s vehicles.
Initially 306 of the 677 vehicles were to be medical evacuation vehicles, Staiger said. As of March 23, 74 upper structures were already produced.
They’ll be set aside, she said, to make way for the reconfigured models, and potentially used in a future Stryker vehicle buy.
Staiger, Joanne Cavanaugh, Stryker program manager for General Dynamics Land Systems, and Army medics showed members of Congress, staff, tourists and interested members of the public, one of the newest Stryker Medical Evacuation Vehicles (MEV)–MEV 178. The Army is fielding MEVs throughout the force, and has delivered 30 MEVs to the 3rd Infantry Division, which is now training with the vehicles before heading to the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, Calif., and potentially on to Iraq (Defense Daily, March 4). A Stryker MEV was displayed near the Capitol March 23 and 24.
After the first SBCT deploys, only Stryker Mobile Gun Systems and Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicles would move back and forth.
The TPE set reduces strategic deployment requirements, increases flexibility and, knowledgeable officials said, would recoup the cost of reconfiguration changes quickly, likely after two SBCT deployments.
The TPE set also means Stryker vehicles would be available at home for all seven SBCTs, increasing training opportunities.