Army looks at Stryker upgrade program

WARREN, Mich., March 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army is planning a major, multi-upgrade program for Stryker combat vehicles and issued a "Sources Sought Notice" for the modernization.

The upgrades will be for both flat-bottom hull and double v-hull platforms and focus on lethality but also include other areas, the Army said.

"The next round of upgrades is intended to improve the lethality of the Stryker formation, so it's important to find solutions that work well in concert and go beyond just making an individual vehicle more lethal," said Col. Glenn Dean, the Army's project manager for the Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

Upgrades could include areas such as sensors, protection, or platform network upgrades.

"The team is particularly interested in enhancements that are readily available, such as commercial off-the-shelf, as well as technologies that will be available in the near term, Dean said. "We really want to identify technologies and potential contributors that we haven't specifically looked at yet."

The Army last July approved increased lethality for 81 Stryker vehicles for the Second Cavalry Regiment and an accelerated acquisition effort is taking place to integrate a 30mm cannon on an unmanned turret.

Fielding of this increased capability is required by 2018, the Army said.

"The insights gleaned from the ... effort will be applied toward planning the fleet-wide lethality program for the Stryker and is another example of how we are developing combat systems in concert with the Army's Operating Concept and Combat Vehicle Modernization Strategy," Dean said.

The Sources Sought is for information-gathering purposes only