General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) used this month’s Association of the United States Army (AUSA) annual meeting in Washington, D.C. to spotlight their development of a new “Tracked Stryker” concept vehicle.

Designated “Stryker + Tr” by the contractor, the concept was apparently developed to provide a medium-weight tracked option for the Army’s emerging Armored Multi Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) effort.

“When we first looked at a way of approaching the requirement we modeled and simulated about 10 different configurations – everything from putting band track over the wheels to half-track-like vehicles, to full track width, to changing the tire sizes,” said Don Kotchman, vice president for the heavy brigade combat team at GDLS. “We ran those through our simulation models and at the end a tracked vehicle approach represented by what we are doing here is what came out to provide the greatest utility for the Army.”

AMPV will serve as the replacement platform for the Army’s aging fleet of M113 series platforms. The Army has conducted an Analysis of Alternatives to support the AMPV effort, with that AoA helping to feed any resulting acquisition program.

According to GDLS representatives at the AUSA annual meeting, emerging Army requirements led some to believe that the Army may seek a tracked vehicle solution to fill the AMPV role. That belief led the company to look for a tracked solution that could be called “non developmental.”

The concept that emerged involved creating a tracked mobility design for a modified Stryker Double-V Hull.

“When we first looked at a way of approaching the requirement we modeled and simulated about 10 different configurations – everything from putting band track over the wheels to half-track-like vehicles, to full track width, to changing the tire sizes,” said Don Kotchman, vice president for the heavy brigade combat team at GDLS. “We ran those through our simulation models and at the end a tracked vehicle approach represented by what we are doing here is what came out to provide the greatest utility for the Army.”

“And we were time-limited, because we were not sure when the RFP [request for proposals] was going to come out for AMPV,” added Mike Cannon, senior vice president for Ground Combat Systems at GDLS. “We gave ourselves a one year window. This was a concept just to make sure that we could do it. And then our continued design work is ongoing, so we’ll start ‘bending metal’ here real soon.”

Moving beyond the hydraulically-driven concept vehicle to a more representative “Tracked Stryker” prototype design will reportedly include additional road wheels, wider track, and other changes to the vehicle hull.