Unit of the Day returns, detailing new vehicles for Act of Aggression. After Chimera & Cartel, it’s time to have a look at one of the most ubiquitous vehicle in the US Army‘s arsenal: the Stryker.
Introduced at the turn of the millennium, the Stryker is the result of the lessons learned by the US Army during the First the Gulf War. Designed as the missing link between heavily armored but cumbersome units (Abrams, Bradleys) and mobile but unarmored ones (Humvees), its purpose was to give the US Army more flexibility to fasten deployment of rapid reaction brigades all around the world.
Yet, it was supposed to be an interim design … but was never replaced due to the US Army shifting its focus on counter-terrorism instead of conventional warfare. And thus the Stryker soldiered since then, taking part in every major American foreign operation from the Second Gulf War to nowadays …
The Stryker was designed as a modular framework for a whole family of combat vehicles, enabling the mobile brigades to perform a wide array of missions. Therefore, instead of a single vehicle with many upgrades, in Act of Aggression you will be able to field several variants based on the Stryker :
M1126 Infantry Carrier Vehicle (Stryker ICV ):
Although less armored or armed than its Cartel (SuperHind ) or Chimera (Puma ) counterparts, the Stryker ICV holds the most balanced place among early tiers troop transport.
Being the cheapest out of the three, it nonetheless has some armor, a 12,7mm heavy machine-gun able to engage infantry and helicopter alike, and a transport capacity of 8 soldiers (against only 4 for the Puma but 10 for the SuperHind ).
M1129 Mortar Carrier (Stryker MC ):
Armed with a deadly 120mm mortar, the Stryker MC will provide early American deployment with short-range but very efficient mobile artillery support.
It can also be quickly improved with white phosphorus incendiary rounds, a very sure way to get rid of pesky infantry units entrenched in a building. Although usually gets rid of the building too in the process …
M1128 Mobile Gun System (Stryker MGS ):
This advanced Stryker is the “tank variant” of the family. Equipped with a turret sporting a 105mm main gun, the Stryker MGS is nothing short of a light tank: mobile, quite well armed … but still under-armored to engage “real” tanks head on. Yet it is perfect as a “fireman” or to launch raids deep into enemy territory.
M1134 Anti-Tank Guided Missile Vehicle (Stryker ATGM ):
This is the “tank destroyer variant” of the Stryker family. Armed with a twin missile launcher, and although it can engage “soft” (aka “infantry”) targets, it is dedicated to the destruction of armored vehicles.
All Stryker variants can be individually uparmored with the TUSK 1 package, once this research is completed. This will have the welcome effect of doubling their hit points!
We will be back next friday with another “Unit of the Day” …
Meanwhile, you can still read our previous posts
No Comments