U.S. Army fields advanced version of Stryker missile carrier

The U.S. Army has begun fielding the M1253A1 Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATVV-A1) combat vehicle, an advanced version of Stryker missile carrier.

According to a tweet from Ronkainen, the Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division have begun fielding their recently received M1253A1 Stryker vehicles.

The new M1253A1 is an improved version of armored fighting vehicles from the Stryker family of vehicles. This vehicle provides an anti-armor overwatch capability that allows the Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) to concentrate on the use of M1126 infantry carrier vehicles to deploy soldiers in a manner that is relatively fast and protected.

The ATVV-A1 features a new Precision Far Target Locator (pFTL), Image Enhancement (IE), HD color camera, and Upgraded TOW Missile Launcher (UTML).

Improvement of M1253A1 provides a process to detect, identify and engage targets at 4.5+km.

The M1253A1’s purpose is to provide the brigade’s main tank killing capability firing heavy anti-tank missiles to defeat enemy armored vehicles at range before the enemy tanks can return fire.