Chem-bio sensors for strykers not yet perfected.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.

The Army may scale back plans to equip its new Stryker combat vehicles with advanced sensors that detect chemical agents while the vehicle is moving at high speeds.

Even though Stryker production is proceeding as scheduled, the chemical sensors have failed critical tests and may get scrapped from the program.

The Stryker is a 19-ton armored troop carrier that comes in I0 different models. One of the variants, called the NBC RV, is a reconnaissance vehicle equipped with nuclear, biological and chemical sensors. Each Stryker brigade--with nearly 300 combat vehicles, 12 cannons, and hundreds of trucks--is intended to deploy with three NBC RVs.

Although the infantry-carrier version of the Stryker already is in full-rare production, the NBC RV remains in development and is expected to be operational by 2006. The first Stryker brigade already has seen combat in Iraq, and a second already is training for a future deployment.

Serving as an interim replacement for the NBC RV is the Fox tracked armored vehicle, which can sense chemical agents, but has no biological detector. The Fox is out of production, but the Army has about 100 in the inventory, 60 of which have been upgraded with new sensors.

Until the NBC RV sensor problems are resolved, the Stryker brigades will employ the Fox vehicle. The Army expects to field six brigades during the next decade. The entire $4 billion program includes 2,100 vehicles.

The NBC RV originally was to be equipped with a new joint service lightweight standoff chemical agent detector, or JSLSCAD. The sensor scans on the move, providing 360-degree coverage at distances up to 5 kilometers. It is a more sophisticated version of the currently fielded M21 chemical detector, a standoff sensor that has a shorter range and only works in a stationary position. It can detect nerve, blister, and blood-agent vapor clouds.

The Fox vehicles that will deploy with the Stryker brigades are equipped with the M21 detector. If the JSLSCAD gets delayed or cancelled, the new NBC RVs also will be outfitted with the M21 detector.

JSLSCAD is unlikely to be deployed aboard Stryker vehicles in the foreseeable future. The program is having "serious problems," according to a senior official on the Army staff.

Military and industry sources confirmed that both the JSLSCAD and the joint chemical agent detector (JCAD) programs are under scrutiny by the office of the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, Claude Bolton. "Both programs are...