The Stryker is a family of eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicles requested by the United States army after the end of the cold war to be able to deploy a more transportable force that would strike a balance between heavy armor and infantry.
The Stryker which is based on the Canadian LAV III was originally supposed to be an interim solution but as is often the case, temporary solutions tend to become permanent and many variants continue to be developed even now. So much so that we were able to base an entire army specialization on this vehicle platform.
In Broken Arrow, the Stryker Cavalry Regiment army specialization embodies the balance between armored and infantry units. The speed of the strykers is inferior to the light transports of the airborne specialization, but they bring way more firepower with them. Meaning that the infantry they carry is not the main fighting force but rather a support for the vehicles.
All the Strykers armor can be upgraded with an explosive reactive armor kit on top of which an active protection system can be added.
Fully upgraded Strykers thus become very hard to destroy but each additional level of protection comes at the cost of a lower maximum speed as this vehicle was not originally not designed with such heavy upgrades in mind.
Stryker RV
The Stryker Recon Vehicle is a variant with exceptional optics and ability to provide laser designation. The basic M240 medium machine gun can be replaced by a M2 heavy machine gun, a Mk19 grenade launcher or a much more powerful 30mm Bushmaster II autocannon with the possibility to add a Javelin top attack missile on top of that.
The vehicle can also carry a team of 6 Scouts.
Stryker ICV & Dragoon
The Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle is the most common version of the vehicle which can transport up to 9 dismounts. It is armed with a remote weapon station equipped with either a M2 HMG or a Mk19 grenade launcher with the possibility to add a Javelin top attack missile on it. It is also possible to replace this RWS by a larger turret armed with a 30mm Bushmaster II autocannon to become a Stryker Dragoon.
The infantry carried by the Strykers are called Troopers and they come in two variants, one dedicated to fighting armored with AT4 rockets and Javelin missiles and the other dedicated to anti-air combat with Stingers missiles as well as a M240L medium machine gun.
A variant called Stryker Engineering Support Vehicle is also available, it doesn’t have access to the Dragoon turret and carries the 9 man strong Combat Engineers squads equipped with shotguns and bunker buster rockets powerful against infantry but also capable of destroying unarmored vehicles.
Stryker MGS
The Stryker Mobile Gun System is a version of the vehicle equipped with an auto-loaded and fully stabilized 105mm gun.
Although it's not cut out to take on tanks this gun can prove deadly against anything lighter and provides long range fire support against infantry.
Stryker ATGMV
The Stryker Anti-Tank Guided Missile Vehicle is equipped with a turret carrying 2 TOW missiles, either the TOW-2A direct attack missile or the TOW-2B with top-down attack to bypass tanks frontal armor and hit them through the thinner roof armor.
Stryker M-SHORAD
The Stryker Maneuver-Short-Range Air Defense offers excellent protection against drones and helicopters. A large choice of armament is available from a simple M2 HMG and two pairs of Stinger missiles to a turret incorporating a 30mm M230LF chain gun and various combinations of Stinger and Hellfire missiles as well as APKWS laser guided rockets.
Stryker MC
The Stryker Mortar Carrier equipped with high-explosive, smoke and laser guided 120mm shells is excellent for dislodging infantry hidden inside or behind buildings. With the strykers the mobility is the key so you cannot let enemy infantry slow you down for long. If the resilience is too strong, smoke rounds can actually be the best option to block their line of sight and pass through their defense instead of eliminating it.
And of course laser guided rounds can prove extremely deadly even to tanks when they hit their roof armor with pinpoint accuracy.
Stryker SPH
The Stryker Self Propelled Howitzer is a prototype we have decided to include into the game.
Equipped with a long-range 105 mm cannon, it delivers highly accurate fire at distances greater than those of the usual 152/155 mm howitzers.
Several vehicles were built and test fire occurred but the acquisition program was finally canceled for budgetary reasons.
Truck based units
The specialization doesn’t stop here. Truck based equipment complement the Strykers like Patriot PAC-3 & MSE surface to air missile systems, HIMARS multiple rocket launcher, Multi mission launcher carrying 15 Stinger/AIM-9/Hellfire missiles, the Centurion C-RAM equipped with the Phalanx CIWS radar guided gun, HEMTT and PLS supply trucks.
M10 Booker
The M10 Booker recently officially adopted by the US army was also incorporated into this deck with the possibility to customize it with potential future upgrades like the Iron Fist active protection system or exchange the 105mm gun for the XM913 50mm auto-cannon.
Air support
The Stryker Cavalry Regiment army specialization doesn’t come with helicopters but two drones are available:
- MQ-1 Predator: A slow, high flying drone that can be equipped with a pair of Hellfires or 4 Stingers or 4 Griffin missiles, well suited for back line reconnaissance but easy prey for any long range SAM system.
- RQ-7B Shadow: The inverse of the Predator, it's a low flying unarmed drone that can get closer to the front line necessitating short range missile or AA guns to be shot down.
The F-16 family of planes is also attached to this specialization. While they can fill various roles with their loadouts, it's not able to do everything at once and they have a very limited amount of fuel without additional drop tanks.
- F-16C Fighting Falcon: The workhorse aircraft of the specialization, it can be used as a fighter or can mount various bombs including the heavy Mk84 2000lb bombs, Rockeye cluster bombs and Mk82 Snake Eye with tail retarding device for low altitude drop. Up to 6 Maverick anti-tank missiles can also be equipped.
- F-16CJ: A SEAD variant of the F-16C, it comes with AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missiles well suited for countering enemy SAM systems. You must choose between equipping it with two additional HARMs, mounting ECM pods to increase its survivability, or fuel tanks to increase its loiter time.
- It is also able to hold its own in aerial combat with up to 4 AIM-9 or AIM-120 air to air missiles.
- F-16V Viper: The most modern F-16 variant available, it features conformal fuel tanks which lessen the need to bring external fuel tanks and a respectable amount of smart bombs, from 4 JSOW anti-tank glide bombs to HE bombs ranging from 250lb to 2000lb. Additionally, it can mount a targeting pod to guide its smart bombs in and a self-protection ECM jammer.
And finally the B-52H Stratofortress: A massive bomber bringing an equally massive amount of firepower to the battle, with up to 20 AGM-86C cruise missiles, almost 60.000 pounds of bombs, possibility to carry JASSM cruise missiles, JSOW glide bombs, 2000lb JDAMs, this plane is nicknamed the BUFF for a reason.
Tactics and Synergy with other specializations
Even though none of the Stryker variants have been certified for airdrop in reality, successful tests have been conducted so we have decided to make the Strykers airdropable to improve the synergy with the Airborne specialization with up to 3 Strykers dropped from a C-17 and 1 from a C-130.
This capability is lost if you decide to install additional armor however.
Combining the Stryker and Armored deck means you won’t have any helicopter available, but you also detain in a single deck enough artillery and anti-aircraft power to support an entire team. You can focus on the support during the first half of the match, slowly accumulating money as you don’t take losses, then spend your reserve to break through the enemy lines before the end of the second phase to score a maximum of points. Just make sure to communicate your plan to your team as too much resources invested in support means there is nothing left to hold the frontline.
The combination with the USMC specialization provides one of the most powerful air tabs of the game with every role covered except the nuclear capability. The USMC also provides some helicopters and heavier tanks while the Stryker specialization brings the long range support that USMC lacks. The main limitation being the high price of the infantry as both specializations work with large expensive squads so each loss of infantry will be meaningful while keeping a reserve and rotating squads to rearm will be more difficult.
This concludes our dev blog, we hope that you enjoyed it, see you next month for the reveal of the 5th and last US specialization.
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