Stryker MSLs (8x8 armored vehicles armed with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles) are headed to Europe sooner than expected to bolster the short-range air defense (SHORAD) systems that the U.S Army is deploying in the region to counter Russia.
Stryker MSL (Maneuver Short-range air defense Launcher) at White Sands Missile Range for a SHORAD demonstration (picture source: General Dynamics)
The U.S. Army is speeding up the development of new SHORAD capabilities for the first time since the Cold War. It would likely encompass the Stryker MSL with a 2020 IOC date. These Strykers will likely be assigned to the permanently forward-stationed 2nd Cavalry Regiment, which is already the first in U.S. Army Europe to have received 80 new Stryker ICVs armed with the 30mm cannon, and additional 87 Strykers with the CROWS-J Javelin system, both of which were engineered to help fill that SHORAD gap. Let us mention that the 2nd Cavalry Regiment is undergoing new training to field-test Stryker vehicles armed with a 5kw Mobile Experimental High Energy Laser for SHORAD purposes.
The Stryker MSL is a short-range Air Defense (SHORAD) solution that meets the U.S. Army's emerging operational need to counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), Rotary Wing (RW) and Cruise Missile (CM) threats. The vehicle is fitted with a Boeing unmanned turret mounted at the rear of the chassis, the original infantrymen compartment is replaced by a cargo area. The turret is armed with four Longbow Hellfires located on the right side and anotherpod with four launchers for Raytheon Stinger short range air defense missile.
Boeing and General Dynamics Land Systems have teamed up to build the new short-range air defense system mounted on a Stryker combat vehicle. The MSL Stryker is essentially made up of a modernized Avenger air defense system on the back of a Stryker reconfigured to accommodate the system on a turret. The Boeing turret is fitted with an organic sensor suite including electro-optical (EO) and infrared sensors with laser range finder and laser designator.
