Another Stryker variant reset at Anniston

By U.S. ArmyJune 11, 2008

Another Stryker variant reset at Anniston
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Another Stryker variant reset at Anniston
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ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala.-Workers here in the Stryker repair facility received another variant of the eight-wheeled vehicle on June 2. Twenty-seven mobile gun systems are being reset to pre-combat condition and modified with upgrades.

So far, nine of the 10 Stryker variants have been repaired at Anniston Army Depot, and eight of those nine variants sent here were part of the Army's reset efforts, said depot Stryker program planner Lisa Seymour.

All 10 variants of the Stryker were built new at the depot by the family of vehicles' original equipment manufacturer General Dynamics Land Systems as part of a facility use agreement between GDLS and the U.S. Army's TACOM-Life Cycle Management Command, according to Hank Kennedy, GDLS program manager at the depot.

In 2006, the Secretary of the Army designated Anniston Army Depot as the Army's depot of choice for Stryker maintenance, though some of the same work is conducted in Qatar, according to depot officials.

GDLS partners with U.S. government civilians, military personnel and other contractors stateside and overseas in the maintenance and overhaul of the war-worn vehicles.

Kennedy said new production of the Stryker MGS took place between August 2005 and May 2007. The variant made it back to its birthplace for repairs just one year after it was deployed to brigade combat teams.

The depot and GDLS have already conducted limited technical inspections to determine the level of repair for each MGS, and a few vehicles have already received the required level of disassembly. Work on this program of 27 MGSs is scheduled to last through March of 2009, said Seymour.

Besides the removal of each turret by GDLS workers, depot mechanics here-about 80-assigned to Stryker maintenance already know that they must take out every power pack and wheel drive so the kits can be replaced with refurbished ones at out-of-state GDLS locations, said supervisor Dale Williams.

Seymour noted that other shops on depot are part of this reset effort. Welders in the Stanley Maintenance Facility and painters in buildings 433 and 143 are also contributing to the Stryker reset mission.

Before these Strykers could make their way from the battle zone in Iraq to the maintenance facilities in the U.S., government and contract workers overseas removed the vehicles' slat armor and gun systems.

Jim Hinnant, the 401st AFSB public affairs officer at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, said the Strykers were inspected at a maintenance shelter in Southwest Asia to determine whether the vehicles were to be sent to the reset facility at Fort Lewis, Wash., or to Anniston where the more extensive repairs are made.

Anniston Army Depot has partnered with GDLS since the mid-1990s to complete maintenance and modifications on defense weapon systems like the FOX vehicle and the M1 Abrams main battle tank.