Dugway tests detection system

DUGWAY PROVING GROUND — Army officials at Dugway are in the final phase of testing a light armored vehicle that will be capable of detecting the presence of chemical and biological agents as it leads convoys down roads in hostile territory.

Officials on Wednesday showed off the so-called Stryker vehicle, of which there are 10 types that range in function from an infantry carrier to a mobile gun system that, like a tank, can fire 105-millimeter rounds.

A basic eight-wheeled Stryker vehicle costs in the neighborhood of $1.5 million, and the price can reach $7 million, depending on what gets added, according to Dugway spokeswoman Paula Nicholson.

The Army has been using simulated chemical and biological agents at Dugway's $10.5 million Joint Ambient Breeze Tunnel (JABT) to test a type of Stryker outfitted with sensors and sampling devices designed to alert soldiers of a threat.

Once the Stryker being tested at Dugway passes muster, several of the vehicles may be deployed to Iraq by next spring, according to Lt. Col. Douglas Tamilio, commander of the West Desert Test Center, which includes the JABT.

The JABT, which is also still in development, is a new 500-foot-long, 65-foot-high tunnel made of a special fabric that is capable of testing two 19-ton Strykers at a time.

Giant fans suck air into the tunnel, while sprayers at the mouth of the tunnel disperse simulated biological and chemical agents into the air. It's then the job of a Stryker's sensors to identify the presence of an agent and transmit that information to on-board computers.

No apparent threat in Iraq has created a need for this type of Stryker, Tamilio said, but "it's there if you need it."

In Iraq, other types of Strykers have, compared with tanks, proven to be quick. They can sustain speeds of 60 mph and travel 300 miles on a tank of gas. With add-ons or modifications, a Stryker can carry anti-tank guided missiles, mortars or, in a roomier version, soldiers who are injured on the battlefield. An additional layer of armor that forms a kind of cage around a Stryker has also been successful in repelling blasts from rocket-propelled grenades.

In a Stryker, which has more armor than a Humvee, soldiers have come away unharmed when they have encountered improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which have killed one third of the over 2,000 U.S. troops killed in Iraq since 2003. Many soldiers have been killed by IEDs while traveling in Humvees in a convoy.

Despite its speed and smooth, quiet ride, the much heavier Stryker vehicles are not intended to replace the Humvee, Humvees as the military searches for ways to increase soldier safety, Tamilio said.

However, the House recently approved a defense-funding measure that could generate $1.5 billion to develop IED countermeasures. In 2000, the Army signed a $4 billion contract to produce 2,131 light armored vehicles over six years.

The Stryker name comes from two soldiers with the same last name, though unrelated, who were killed in World War II and Vietnam.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com