The United States Army recently awarded a $99 million contract to Oshkosh Defense to upgrade an additional Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) with the 30 mm Medium Caliber Weapon System (MCWS).
Pat Williams, Vice President and General Manager of US Army and US Marine Corps Programs for Oshkosh Defense, called the Oshkosh MCWS a “highly capable weapon that meets all requirements.”
Following the finalization of the contract, Oshkosh began government Risk Mitigation Testing, part of the planned component of the MCWS program schedule.
Williams said that Risk Mitigation Testing allowed soldiers to interact with the MCWS system. The feedback from these soldiers has been mostly positive. Williams concluded that this “reaffirms our Soldier-centric design.”
The Stryker Brigade Combat Team
The SBCT is an infantry-centric unit with 3,600 soldiers “that combines many of the best characteristics of the current Army forces and exploits technology to fill a current operations capability gap between the Army’s heavy and light forces.”
This system is capable of increased operational and tactical mobility, enhanced situational awareness and understanding, combined arms integration down to a company level, and it can be deployed with both lethal and non-lethal joint effects.
The SCBT also has a cavalry squadron for reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition, a brigade support battalion, a field artillery battalion, and a military intelligence company, among other support troops.
