US Army Stryker Vehicles to Get Enormous New Guns

[Thunder Bolt]

The US House of Representatives on Thursday voted to approve a $612 billion defense policy bill, which authorizes an additional $411 million for Army Stryker combat vehicle upgrades.

The cost of the upgraded Strykers breaks down to $314 million for modification work and $97 million for research and development, Breaking Defense reported.

Earlier this year, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment – one of the last US combat units still based in Europe – requested Strykers fitted with 30 millimeter automatic cannons (30 mm is more than twice the caliber of the 12.7 mm machine guns those Strykers currently mount.)

While setting aside funds for the upgrades, the House and Senate Armed Service Committees also warned the Army that the cost-per-vehicle of the upgrade is getting too high, and the schedule to deliver the new 30 millimeter cannon may be too slow.

"The conferees understand the urgency for this requirement given heightened security concerns of our NATO partners due to Russian aggression in Ukraine," the conference report says. "As such, the conferees expect the rapid production of fully serviceable, upgraded Strykers."

The upgrades could cost $4.5 million for each of the 81 vehicles, according to US Army estimates.
But because the 30 mm cannon and its ammunition are much heavier than the current 12.7 mm machinegun, a redesign of the roof is necessary.

The Army plans to build the new guns – and the new superstructure to support them – onto disused Stryker chassis that were mothballed after Strykers were converted to roadside-bomb-resistant Double-V Hulls, Defense News reported.

"This approach appears to add significantly to the unit cost," the conferees said in their report.

Also, the report draws a line between the upgrades for the vehicles of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Europe and an overhaul of the entire Stryker fleet worldwide, Defense News reported. Congress is eager to fasttrack the first but uneasy about the second.

The $411 million in "lethality upgrades" for Europe come on top of $560 million of Stryker funding that was already in the budget request.

"The conferees are concerned that simply adding a broad Stryker lethality package for the Army's Stryker Brigade Combat Teams could add billions of dollars to the already stressed resources of the combat vehicle portfolio," the conference report says.

The Senate is scheduled to vote on the bill next week.
US Army Stryker Vehicles to Get Enormous New Guns

 

[Oldman1]

This is probably what it will look like.

 

[C130]

so basically this

KTO Rosomak - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Patria/Rosomak would of been a better vehicle than the LAV III/Stryker

 

[Penguin]

WASHINGTON — One of the most important US Army units in Europe — the Stryker-equipped 2nd Cavalry Regiment — is outgunned by its Russian counterparts, Army officials say, and needs a fast-track upgrade.
The Army staff in April approved a request from the unit's commander, Col. John Meyer, to fit a 30mm cannon on 81 of the infantry carriers, needed for it to engage similar units or light-armored vehicles. The Senate version of the defense authorization bill contains $371 millionfor the Stryker lethality upgrade.
The 2nd Cavalry earlier this year completed a high-profile show-of-force convoy operation that maneuvered 120 vehicles across Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and back to its home base in Vilseck, Germany. The mission, called a Dragoon Ride, was one of a series of multilateral operations and exercises meant to reassure US allies in Europe in the wake of Russian aggression.
Meyer said the unit and its Strykers provide "operational mobility to maneuver across the alliance," a capability unavailable in infantry or armor brigades.
"An infantry or armor brigade combat team could not have done Dragoon Ride," he said. "We just reassured our allies by conducting a 2,200 km movement … and we could not have done that with a different type of formation."
The 30mm cannon requested for the Stryker is not meant to turn it into a tank or let it take on armored vehicles directly. It would, Meyer said, permit it to "destroy like-type vehicles," and clear the way for infantrymen on foot to use Javelin shoulder-fired anti-tank missiles on enemy armored vehicles.
...
According to Jim Hasik, a Brent Scowcroft Center resident senior fellow for defense, the Stryker is outgunned by the Russian BMP-3 tracked transport vehicle, which has either a 100mm low velocity gun or 30mm auto-cannon, and many Russian BTR-80/82 wheeled infantry transporters, which have a 30mm auto-cannon.
A 30mm weapon for the Stryker would let it take on a Russian motorized rifle battalions and at least harass Russian T-72 tanks, he said.
"The alternative is a .50-cal and harsh language," Hasik quipped
...
US allies along the eastern frontier — Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia — have 30mm guns on their AMV-360s and Pandur-IIs, Hasik said. Sweden and Norway's CV90 have 40mm and 35mm guns, respectively. Slovakia's BMP-2s have 30mm guns.
"So it's a little embarrassing to have the only American mobile infantry in Europe relying on nothing between machine guns and anti-tank missiles," Hasik said.

US Army: Strykers Need Bigger Gun to Fight Russia

Please note that a 30mm doesn't necessarily mean a large turret installation

30mm ASP (automatic, self powered) cannon for example can pretty much be a pintle mount like 0.5 HMG

Stryker with Kongsberg RWS

http://www.kongsberg.com/~/media/KPS/Datasheets/PROTECTOR MCT-30.ashx?la=en