Letter to Chairman McCain and Ranking Member Reed - Continue Funding Stryker Vehicle Upgrade

Letter

Dear Chairman McCain and Ranking Member Reed,

We are writing to request your support in the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act for Stryker A1 Vehicles.

Stryker is the Army's most versatile and deployable combat vehicle. It is the foundation of the Army's nine Stryker Brigade Combat Teams, which are composed of 10 different variants for specific missions all based on the Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle that carries a squad of nine troops. In 2010, the Army began upgrading Stryker with an advanced Double-V Hull (DVH) that increases survivability against Improvised Explosive Devices, mines and other underbody threats. The Army has fielded three Stryker Brigades equipped with this DVH enhancement that has been combat proven to save soldiers' lives.

The fourth DVH Stryker brigade coming to completion with funding provided by Congress in three successive appropriations cycles over FY16 to FY18 is the first set of vehicles to incorporate improvements that increase both engine and electrical power, provide an upgraded suspension, and give the vehicle a digital network backbone for the most advanced communications systems.

Because of the success and importance of combining the DVH upgrade and these engineering changes, the Army has designated this combination the Stryker A1 vehicle -- a clearly more capable and survivable Stryker vehicle than any in the legacy fleet. For the past three years, Congress has consistently provided funding for production of the Stryker A1 vehicle as a major improvement of the legacy fleet, even when the Army did not include funding in its budget request. This funding should continue.

After completion of the FY19 President's Budget request, the Army determined that the desired future force structure is to pure fleet all Stryker Brigades with DVH and that all future upgrades will be to the A1 configuration. We strongly support this decision as it will provide our soldiers a more capable and survivable vehicle across the force. Moreover, it will provide a much improved baseline vehicle from which the Army will be able to evolve the Stryker with new innovations, such as enhanced lethality with anti-tank missiles and a much more powerful 30mm cannon, as well as crucially needed expanded missions such as a short-range air defense capability for both Armored Brigades and other ground force units.

Based upon these needs, we respectfully request that you include funding to produce the first half of the next brigade set of Stryker A1 vehicles in the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act.