Posts tagged ‘Stryker vehicle’
FRIDAY FOTO (July 1, 2022)
STILL LIFE WITH GALAXY.
(U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Christopher Stewart ) Click on photo to enlarge the image
Army Sergeant Justin Covert mans an M1A2 .50-caliber machine gun on a Stryker vehicle during training on May 24, 2022 at Fort Irwin, California with the Milky Way galaxy visible overhead.
The original M2 “Ma Deuce” .50 Caliber Machine Gun is a belt-fed, heavy machine gun that mounts on most aircraft and vehicles and can be fired from a tripod. The system is highly effective against light armored vehicles, low- and slow-flying aircraft, boats and enemy personnel.
The Stryker is a wheeled armored vehicle that combines firepower, battlefield mobility, survivability and versatility, with reduced logistical requirements. Manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems, the Stryker family of vehicles consists of nine variants of eight-wheeled armored vehicles mounted on a common chassis that provide transport for troops, weapons, and command and control.
Fort Irwin, located in the Mojave Desert between Las Vegas, Nevada and Los Angleles, is home to the Army’s National Training Center.
For a short (2:14 minutes) video of Marines learning how to load and operate the M1A2, click here.
A very short National Guard video shows some of the ins and outs of the Stryker. Click here to see it.
FRIDAY FOTO (May 20, 2022)
ALREADY THERE.
(U.S. Army photo by Specialist Elizabeth MacPherson) Click to enlarge
Another U.S. Army armored convoy of Stryker armored vehicles transiting a Pennsylvania highway? Nope. Germany? Guess again. If you have trouble reading the blue road sign on the right side of the photo, one reason could be because it’s in Finnish.
This is Outlaw Troop, 4th Squadron of the 2d Cavalry Regiment, leading a convoy from Niinisalo Training Area, Finland as part of Exercise Arrow on May 8, 2022.
Finland is not a member of NATO, yet, but the Finns, and their neighbors the Swedes, have been participating as partner nations in joint exercises with NATO forces for years. Nevertheless, both Finland and Sweden — while not neutral — have been firmly nonaligned with NATO, the Soviet Union or Russia until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 “upended their thinking about security,” according to The Washington Post. Both Nordic countries are already members of the European Union.
Moscow has objected to widening NATO’s membership, especially to include countries like Finland that have long borders with Russia. But as this week’s FRIFO shows, troops from the United States and other NATO states are already training on Finnish soil.
Finland and Sweden submitted their applications to join NATO on May 18. “You are our closest partners. And your membership in NATO would increase our shared security,”
Exercise Arrow is an annual, multinational exercise taking place in Finland, where visiting NATO forces from the United States, United Kingdom, Latvia, and Estonia, train together with Finnish Defense Forces.
Training operations include high intensity force-on-force engagements and a live fire exercise. The purpose of the exercise to enhance mechanized units operational and procedural performance, develop interoperability with participating forces and demonstrate the ability to cooperate with partners.
ARCTIC NATION: U.S. Army Strykers in Arctic; Russian Arctic Power Plants; Arctic Coast Guard Forum
Live from Deadhorse.
U.S. Army Alaska Stryker vehicles from Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, unload from an Air Force C-17 Globe master III above the Arctic Circle as part of Operation Arctic Pegasus.
(U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Joel Gibson)
For the first time ever, the U.S. Army has deployed Stryker vehicles north of the Arctic Circle — with the help of the Air Force.
According to U.S. Army Alaska, elements of the Army’s 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team were deployed via an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft. Four Stryker vehicles and approximately 40 soldiers were delivered to Deadhorse, Alaska as part of Operation Arctic Pegasus, a joint, multi-agency exercise. tested the rapid deployment capability
The 1st BCT regularly trains for rapid deployment across U.S. Army Alaska’s area of operation — which stretches from the Arctic Circle to the southern reaches of the Asia-Pacific region.
The average winter temperatures in the area where the Stryker platoon was deployed November 3-45, range from 23 degrees below zero to minus 11.
Click here to see an Army video of the Strykers operating in the Far North.
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Russia Seeks Mobile Nuke Power Plants for Arctic.
Russia’s Defense Ministry plans to develop mobile nuclear power plants designated for military installations in the Arctic, according to the RT website. Introduction of the first mobile nuclear power plant (NPP) could take place by 2020, RT reported.
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has ordered a pilot project of a mobile low-power nuclear station to be mounted on a tracked vehicle or a sledged platform to be delivered where needed in the Arctic region.
“The project has already begun and is going through a research stage now,” Yury Konyushko, CEO of the engineering company chosen to work on the project, told TASS.
Preliminary data is to be presented to the military by the end of this year, Konyushko said.
Once the ministry approves the project, full-scale development, estimated to take up to two years, will begin. After that engineering and construction of an operable prototype will be launched, RT reported.
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Arctic Coast Guard Forum.
Eight countries in the High North have organized a Coast Guard cooperative group to leverage collective resources to secure maritime safety in the Arctic.
Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft joins leaders from all eight coast guard agencies of the Arctic nations in establishing the Arctic Coast Guard Forum at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.
(U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Patrick Kelley)
The new Arctic Coast Guard Forum was formally set up at a ceremony in New London, Connecticut last week ( October 30).
According to Coast Guard Compass, the official U.S. Coast Guard blog, “the Arctic Coast Guard Forum is an operationally-focused, consensus-based organization with the purpose of leveraging collective resources to foster safe, secure and environmentally responsible maritime activity in the Arctic”.
The signatories to the new cooperation agreement are Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States.
The increasing number of passenger cruise ships in the Arctic and the risk of pollution are considered to be the biggest threats currently facing the Arctic region.
“Iceland’s contribution could be valuable, given the work currently being put into setting up an international Arctic rescue station, to be located in Iceland,” the Head of the Icelandic Coast Guard, Georg Kr. Lárusson, told Iceland Monitor.
“Iceland boasts good facilities for conducting rescue operations and well-trained staff in the rescue services, the Icelandic Red Cross, the police, the Icelandic Coast Guard and various other institutions,” the Icelandic Coast Guard chief added.”
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ARCTIC NATION is an occasional 4GWAR posting on the Far North. The U.S. “National Strategy for the Arctic Region” describes the United States as “an Arctic Nation with broad and fundamental interests” in the region. “Those interests include national security needs, protecting the environment, responsibly managing resources, considering the needs of indigenous communities, support for scientific research, and strengthening international cooperation on a wide range of issues.”
FRIDAY FOTO (October 19, 2012)
Saber Junction
U.S. Army photo by Markus Rauchenberger
Aaah, autumn in Bavaria: the crisp air, the colorful foliage, the rumble of a U.S. Army cavalry column.
This convoy of vehicles, led by an Army Stryker vehicle, is entering the village of Schalkenthan, near Grafenwoehr, Germany, during Saber Junction 2012. The multinational exercise involves U.S. troops and 1,800 NATO and non-NATO personnel from 18 nations including Germany, Bulgaria, Italy, Moldova, Sweden, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Britain.
If you click on the image to enlarge it, you will see the grenade launching tubes to the left of the soldier in the top hatch of the Stryker, as well as the heavy machine gun just above the grenade launchers.
In addition to developing interoperability of communications networks and systems, the exercise seeks to overcome language barriers and promote cultural understanding.
The huge training and manuever area — 1,300 square miles — exposes the Army’s 2nd Cavalry Regiment (2CR) to the real-life challenges of civilian traffic, civilian authorities and civilians on the battlefield, in addition to the real-world experience of working as a coalition.
Saber Junction is the largest exercise of its kind in Europe since 1989. And before the exercise concludes on Oct. 30, it will see the use of jets, helicopters, Main Battle Tanks, Infantry Fighting Vehicles, Strykers and more than 200 wheeled vehicles and 90 tracked vehicles.
The 2nd Cavalry will have to deal not only with a mock insurgency but also force-on-force action against a conventional opponent. Army officials want to incorporate the lessons learned in Iraq and Afghanistan with scenarios U.S. troops my face in 10 or 15 years.
To learn more about Saber Junction click here. For more photos, click here.
To see a brief Army video outlining the exercise’s scope, click here.
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