US Army orders more Strykers with 30mm cannons from Oshkosh

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has ordered 83 more Stryker combat vehicles equipped with 30mm cannons from Oshkosh Defense worth $99 million to outfit another brigade combat team.

The service selected Oshkosh in June following a competition to up-gun Double V-Hull A1 Stryker infantry carrier vehicles with a Medium Caliber Weapon System, or MCWS.

Oshkosh and its partners Pratt Miller Defense and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems beat out a Leonardo DRS-Moog team as well as a General Dynamics Land Systems-Kongsberg team.

When Oshkosh won the competition, the Army placed its first order covering 91 vehicles valued at roughly $130 million. The Army could build up to six Stryker brigades with the MCWS version, so the potential contract value is roughly $942 million over six years.

The first unit to receive the MCWS Strykers will be the I-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. Fielding will be complete by December 2023 with that unit, Col. Bill Venable, the program manager for the Stryker brigade combat team within Program Executive Office Ground Combat Systems, told reporters June 3.

The Army decided to outfit three out of six of its brigades equipped with Strykers with 30mm guns following an Army Requirements Oversight Council review evaluating the performance of the 30mm Stryker Dragoon operated in Europe by the 2nd Cavalry Regiment.

The Army chief of staff directed the Army to ensure the new MCWS capability be applied to the more mobile-protected DVH ICVVA1 that will be the basis for the future Stryker fleet.

“Since receiving the initial award, Oshkosh Defense’s Production Representative System Sample (PRSS) began government Risk Mitigation Testing, a planned component of the MCWS program schedule,” Oshkosh said in an Aug. 10 news release.

“As part of the Risk Mitigation Testing, Soldiers have had the opportunity to interact with the Oshkosh Defense MCWS. The feedback from the first Soldier touchpoint has been very positive and reaffirms our Soldier-centric design,” Pat Williams, company vice president of U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps programs, said in the statement.