M1126 Infantry Carrier Vehicle

The M1126 Infantry Carrier Vehicle (ICV) is an armored personnel carrier and part of the Stryker family of vehicles (derived from the Canadian LAV III/Swiss MOWAG Piranha IIIH 8x8) used by the United States Army and Royal Thai Army. Models with the double V-hull upgrade are known as the M1256 ICVV.

General

The Infantry Carrier Vehicle provides protected transport and, during dismounted assault, supporting fire for the infantry squad. The Stryker is a full-time four-wheel drive, selectively eight-wheel drive, armored vehicle weighing approximately 19t which carries an infantry squad with their equipment. On paved roads the vehicle can attain speeds of without a governor and with a governor.

The basic infantry carrier vehicle (ICV) provides armored protection for the two-man crew and a squad of nine soldiers.

Digital communications system

The vehicle's commander has a Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2) digital communications system that allows communication between vehicles through text messaging and a map network, as well as with the battalion. The map shows the position of all vehicles on the battlefield and the commander can mark the position of enemy forces on the map, which can then be seen by other commanders.

Armament

The M1126 ICV has a Protector remote weapon station with a universal soft mount cradle, which can mount either a .50 caliber M2 Browning machine gun, a 40mm MK19 grenade launcher or a 7.62×51mm NATO M240 machine gun. It is also armed with four M6 smoke grenade launchers.

Army officials plan to up-gun Stryker ICVs with a 30 mm cannon in a Kongsberg Protech Systems' Medium Caliber Remote Weapons Station (MCRWS), which does not extend into the crew compartment and take up space and can be loaded from inside. Test firings occurred on a Stryker demonstrator on 19 February 2014, showing increased lethality and accuracy over the standard .50-caliber machine gun at ranges from 600-1,550 meters; the 30 mm cannon is capable of hitting targets over 2,000 meters away.

After comparative testing of the Kongsberg MCRWS mounted to Strykers, the U.S. Army approved on 22 April 2015 the equipping of 81 of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment's Strykers with 30 mm Mk44 Bushmaster II cannons following a lethality upgrade request to increase lethality against other light armor vehicles while preserving its wheeled mobility advantages. The first upgraded ICV, designated XM1296 "Dragoon", was delivered for testing on 27 October 2016, with fielding to begin in May 2018. The first Infantry Carrier Vehicle - Dragoon (ICVD) was delivered to the 2CR in Germany on 8 December 2017.

In April 2019, the Army decided to add cannon armament to three additional brigades of Stryker DVH ICVVA1 vehicles.Army to outfit Double V-Hull Strykers with 30mm firepower
''Defense News''. 1 May 2019.

Gallery

Image:Rws stryker interiorscreen.jpg, Interior control station for Protector M151 Remote Weapon Station in Stryker ICV
Image:Kongsberg Protector RWS on M1126.jpg, Remote Weapon Station on Stryker ICV
Image:Stryker 25th ID Iraq DF-SD-05-12693.JPEG, Stryker ICV on patrol in Iraq
Image:Dragoon at Hohenfels.jpg, An Infantry Carrier Vehicle Dragoon (ICVD) from Ghost Troop, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, over watches the engagement area from its battle position during the ICVD/Common Remote Weapons Station mounting a Javelin missile (CROWS-J) Operational Test at the Joint Maneuver Readiness Center (JMRC), Hohenfels, Germany

See also

* M2 Bradley
* GCV Infantry Fighting Vehicle
* Freccia IFV

References

''This article incorporates work from https://web.archive.org/web/20080516205916/http://www.sbct.army.mil/product_icv.html, which is in the public domain as it is a work of the United States Military.''

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017

Armored personnel carriers of the United States
General Dynamics land vehicles
Wheeled armoured fighting vehicles
Post–Cold War armored fighting vehicles of the United States
Mowag Piranha