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National Guard, states want more Strykers

Lt. Gen. Steven Blum wants more Stryker brigades for the U.S. National Guard he commands, adding a powerful voice to the chorus of states — including Alabama, California, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada and Oregon — that want more of the 20-ton, eight-wheeled armored combat vehicles.

“If the Army would identify a requirement for additional Stryker units in the Army National Guard, we would welcome that dramatically,” Blum told members of Congress on April 20. “It offers protection and see-more, know-more and act-faster kind of capabilities. I would love to have had a Stryker brigade in Katrina,” referring to the disaster response in the U.S. Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The Army plans to have one $1.2 billion Stryker brigade in the National Guard and six in the active-duty ranks, but that could change if Strykers are added to the Guard, say Army officials. The Guard has a $13.1 billion equipment shortfall, Blum said.

“The performance of the Stryker in Iraq has been remarkable,” said Brig. Gen. Lou Antonetti, adjutant general of the California National Guard. “The Stryker will assist us in saving more lives in a natural and manmade disaster. Being watertight, the Stryker can go across deep water so it could be a great tool in the event of a flood. It can evacuate civilians and has a rubber-tire system, which will do little damage to the civilian infrastructure, unlike heavy-tracked vehicles.”

Mississippi, Alabama and Kentucky have offered to share a Stryker brigade, as have Oregon, Nevada and California, Antonetti said.

The Stryker “delivers a highly mobile and survivable combat vehicle that in many ways is ideally suited for both counterinsurgency operations and disaster response,” Republican Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour wrote in a Feb. 22 letter to Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., and Rep. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.

Barbour’s letter says Strykers and their communications gear would help prevent the kind of problems that hamstrung the 2005 Katrina disaster-relief efforts.

“An additional brigade in the Army National Guard would provide our troops improved combat capability and force protection, and a more rapid comprehensive response to state missions in Mississippi,” Barbour writes.

At the moment, the only National Guard unit with Stryker vehicles is Pennsylvania.

“It has been an important program for us,” said Lt. Col. Chris Cleaver, spokesman for Pennsylvania’s National Guard.

Cleaver said the roughly 300 Strykers they received last year “bring a lot more capability to the Guard.” Some are equipped with nuclear-, biological- and chemical-detection capabilities, which bring more protection for homeland security, he said.

The Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade-and-Below communications gear connects vehicles and soldiers throughout the unit, making a big difference, Cleaver said: “We can sit at the operations center and see the locations of all the vehicles.” Additionally, the communications possibilities brought by a Stryker brigade could help the Guard acquire other assets, such as UAVs for surveillance in times of crisis.

“When we are involved in search and rescue, choppers might have troubling flying, depending on weather,” Cleaver said. “It would be great if we could get a Shadow UAV to fly up and down hard-to-reach areas.” Along these lines, brigades include other technology which could help during a natural disaster, said General Dynamics Land Systems spokesman Peter Keating.

“Tactical satellite communications systems can restore communication links in an area where the existing infrastructure for communications was wiped out,” Keating said.

This push for Strykers for the Guard follows a Jan. 30 Government Accountability Office report citing problems with replacing U.S. Army National Guard equipment.

“The main issue with the Guard forces is that they began the Iraq war with equipment shortages which have been exacerbated,” Janet St. Laurent, a GAO spokeswoman, said. “The units not deployed will likely experience worsening shortages.” The report concludes that the Army should buy more gear for the Guard.

Dan Gouré, vice president of the Lexington Institute, a Washington think tank, said the operational tempo of overseas deployment for the Guard, along with a need for improved disaster-response capability at home, suggests the vital need for adding Stryker brigades. One key advantage is that brigades are equipped with FBCB2.

“Stryker brigades are fully networked, so you get the on-the-move communications and ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] available to everybody that you would need for something like another Katrina,” Gouré said. “The unit brings command-and-control communications and the unmanned aerial vehicles. It is the best all-around unit that you could give to the governors.

“A Stryker brigade is an all-can-do unit with reconnaissance, rescue and medical missions. You do not find this in a standard heavy- or light-armored brigade. The wheeled nature of the Stryker is a particular utility in natural disasters. It has greater mobility in off-road situations than any other unit in the Army.”