US Army receives first upgunned Stryker, hardware and software fixes made

The US Army has ordered 269 upgunned Strykers from Oshkosh Defense. (Janes/US Army)

Oshkosh Defense has delivered its first upgunned Stryker to the US Army after the service discovered several problems with an early version of the platform during a risk management test phase, the service told Janes on 2 August. Several hardware and software fixes, some affecting the main gun, have now been made to the vehicle and the army may have its first unit equipped with the platform by December 2023.

The army selected an Oshkosh Defense-led team in July 2021 to outfit Stryker Double-V Hull Infantry Carrier Vehicles (ICVVA1) with a 30 mm cannon under its Medium Caliber Weapon System (MCWS) programme. In July 2021 Janes reported that the army had discovered several problems with the winning bid sample during the source selection process, including the weapon's ability to mark targets and hit them while on the move. Programme officials then embarked on a ‘risk management testing' effort to find and fix a variety of issues before moving into production.

More specifically, this phase was designed to gather critical safety and performance data to “help inform” the final production configuration and prepare for production verification testing, Ashley John, the Public Affairs Director for the army's Program Executive Office for Ground Combat Systems, wrote in a 2 August email to Janes .

She noted that the team discovered problems firing the main gun, made changes to the fire control software, and conducted an operating system “transition”.