The Army could find the answer to its lack of mobile short-range air defense (SHORAD) in a couple of existing platforms that General Dynamics [GD] Land Systems, with the help of Boeing [BA], have mashed together into a new vehicle.
By cutting the back off of a Stryker Infantry Combat Vehicle (ICV) variant and mounting a Boeing-made TWQ-1 Avenger air defense system missile launcher on the back, GD created what it calls the Stryker Mobile SHORAD Launcher. Boeing supplied an interface system that allows the Avenger launcher to be controlled remotely from inside the cab.
“We actually cut the back off where we normally would carry soldiers and did the adjustments from there – it’s like a pickup truck bed, like an El Camino,” Kendall Linson, business development manager for GDLS, told sister publication Defense Daily during an interview on Aug. 8.
With a crew of three, the vehicle can fire several types of missiles, including the Hellfire, AIM-9x sidewinder and FIM-92 Stinger. The company unveiled the prototype at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Ala.
The vehicle is another example of GD’s willingness to sink internal research and development funding into rapid prototypes that fill perceived or expected Army requirements. For 16 years as it primarily fought counterinsurgency conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army neglected its SHORAD capability until its operational formations had next to no organic air cover.
“The Army basically depleted itself of force structure – they have zero SHORAD assets within any of the maneuver formations,” Linson said. “We saw that the Stryker could mitigate that capability gap, so we went to the Pentagon and we briefed that concept because we knew they were going to use the Avenger as an interim capability.”
Before the vehicle’s official unveiling in Huntsville, GD pitched it to the Army G-8 and assistant secretary for acquisition logistics and technology, both of which were in favor, Linson said. The G-8 is responsible for matching resources to the defense strategy.
Just as it mounted a 30mm cannon atop a Stryker in anticipation of the Army’s need for mobile firepower in Europe, GD sank about $1 million into building the SHORAD Stryker in response to urgent operational needs and without published requirements, Linson said.
Both prototyping efforts are noted for how swiftly they produced operational vehicles. It took about 15 months from design to production of an upgunned Styker with a Kongsberg turret and 30mm cannon. Starting in January, the company was able to build the SHORAD Stryker in about eight months – in time for the Army to have a look at this week’s conference.
Linson said both programs are examples of rapid prototyping “to get after what the chief of staff is asking us – looking at capabilities that are currently in the Army inventory and basically adapting them to meet another capability or to meet an emerging capability need.”
Stryker is the most numerous operational ground combat platform in the Army with about 4,700 vehicles in service in every Brigade Combat Team.
“They are in all three formations,” Linson said of the Stryker. “There is a lot of utility with a Stryker in terms of what you can bring to the fight if you just alter the chassis. You’re finding Stryker now outside formations besides a [Stryker Brigade Combat Team], another indication of the utility that one can get from a Stryker chassis.”
In both cases, the company has repurposed existing platforms and weapons to perform new missions, a strategy the Army is hoping will promote modernization at an affordable price. As it pursues a mobile protected firepower (MPF) light tank for infantry brigade combat teams, the Army is considering a similar approach where existing, non-developmental vehicles could be paired with legacy or commercial-off-the-shelf platforms rather than design a clean-sheet vehicle.
“This is a great opportunity for the Army and Army leadership to see how industry has come together to develop a capability to mitigate an emerging requirement,” he said. “This is something you’ll continue to see in the future – the government opening the aperture where industry now has a place at the table where they can socialize and dialogue on what are the capability gaps and canvassing industry on how they can help solve the problem.”
There are several avenues through which the Army might purchase the vehicle. One is a joint urgent operational needs statement that calls for a SHORAD capability for deployed forces in all services. Another is an operational needs statement from Army Europe for short-range air defense systems to counter Russian guided artillery.
“This is in all of the forces … they are all having SHORAD issue,” he said. “They have a JUONS out there and we are basically responding to that JUONS. Also, there’s an ONS out there that has been generated by USAREUR.” A JUONS is a Joint Urgent Operational Needs Statement, which is an requirement from the field for a capability to meet an urgent need. USAREUR refers to U.S. Army Europe.
The single SHORAD Stryker prototype will participate in a “shoot-off” at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., on Sept. 16. The results of that live-fire event should inform a direct requirement for a SHORAD capability. The Army is expected to publish that requirement sometime in the April-May 2018 timeframe and then make a decision how to proceed.
Linson said alterations of legacy Strykers to SHORAD launchers would likely take place as the vehicles process through depot maintenance at Anniston Army Depot, Ala.