The Army wants the Stryker to be more survivable and lethal

The Army's is looking for new weapons and capabilities for Stryker armored combat vehicles in addition to the improved hulls and 30mm cannons already being added to the vehicles.

The effort to up-gun Strykers, typically equipped with .50-cals, Mk. 19 grenade launchers, or M240Bs, has been going on since Sep. 2013. That was when the Army first announced tests of the 30mm weapons.

"(This) maintains a lethal overmatch that we want to make sure our forces have," Army Lt. Col. Scott DeBolt told Army.mil at a 2014 demonstration of the 30mm cannon. "It has lethality, mobility and protection, and survivability. When we have a firefight, we don't want it to last 40 minutes. It'd be nice if it lasted 40 seconds. This vehicle provides that 40-second fight."

The 30mm weapons were approved for installation on 81 Strykers in the U.S. Army Europe 2nd Calvary Regiment amid concerns that Strykers would be outmatched if they went toe-to-toe with Russian armor using only the .50-cal. weapons.

Now, the Army is looking for plans to make the rest of the Stryker fleet more lethal and has requested suggestions from weapons manufacturers. Army Col. Glenn Dean told reporters Feb. 29 that the final plan for upgrading Strykers will likely involve Javelin anti-tank missiles and more 30mm guns.

It wasn't immediately clear whether Javelins would replace TOW missiles on the M1134 Anti-Tank Guided Missile Vehicle or be fielded as a new anti-tank Stryker variant. The TOW missiles currently deployed on M1134s have a longer range but smaller warheads than Javelin missiles. Also, the Javelin can target helicopters and surface vessels that the TOW missile would be unlikely to hit.

The Stryker successfully fired the Javelin in industry tests in 2010.

The Army has also toyed with the idea of using the 30mm cannons to give Strykers a better shot against enemy air assets such as helicopters and low-flying drones.

"We start to get 30mm Stryker airburst munitions, that might have some air defense capability," Army Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations David Markowitz said during an Association of the United States Army panel in Feb. 2016.

Regardless of what the Army decides is the Stryker's next weapon configuration, the effort to upgrade flat-bottomed Strykers with V-shaped hulls will continue. The improved hulls grant increased protection for the crew during mine and IED strikes.