The Royal Thai Army has received a delivery 10 US-made Stryker M1126 Infantry Carrier Vehicles (ICVs), which arrived recently at Laem Chabang port in Chon Buri. The vehicles, bought from the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency, cost about 900 million baht. The BangkokPost reported that the Royal Thai Army now has 130 of them. The army purchased Stryker carriers in three batches- of 70, 50 and 10 – in the 2019, 2020 and 2021 fiscal years respectively. The total budget for the vehicles is about 9.1 billion baht. The procurement also includes spare parts, tools and testing equipment, along with training and maintenance support. The 10 vehicles were taken to the Ordnance Department in Saraburi over the weekend for inspection before being delivered to the 11th Infantry Division in Chachoengsao province.
In May 2019 Royal Thai Army ordered 37 refurbished M1126 Infantry Carrier Vehicles from U.S. Army and is also to receive 23 more M1126 vehicles. Around 60 Strykers were delivered to Bangkok via C-17s with an option for 30 more Strykers for free. Meanwhile, the first team of 30 Thai soldiers to be assigned to the Stryker company — including drivers, mechanics and technicians has been sent for training in the US. The US has also provided mechanics and technicians to assist in the repair and maintenance of the Stryker M1126 Infantry Carrier Vehicles. The vehicles were purchased under the Thai Defence Council’s policy to modernise the 11th Infantry Division and the Royal Thai Army.
The Stryker is a family of eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicles derived from the Canadian LAV III. Stryker vehicles are produced by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-C) for the United States Army in a plant in London, Ontario. It has four-wheel drive (8×4) and can be switched to all-wheel drive (8×8). The Stryker was conceived as a family of vehicles forming the backbone of a new medium-weight brigade combat team (BCT) that was to strike a balance between heavy armor and infantry. The service launched the Interim Armored Vehicle competition, and in 2000, the service selected the LAV III proposed by GDLS and General Motors Defense. The service named this family of vehicles the “Stryker”.
The M1126 Infantry Carrier Vehicle (ICV) is an armored personnel carrier and part of the Stryker family of vehicles used by the United States Army and Royal Thai Army. The basic armored personnel carrier version, which provides protected transport for 2 crew and a 9-man infantry squad, and can support dismounted infantry. It weighs 19 tons; communications include text and a map network between vehicles. On paved roads the vehicle can attain speeds of 62 miles per hour (100 km/h) without a governor and 35 miles per hour (56 km/h) with a governor.The M1126 ICV has a Protector remote weapon station with a universal soft mount cradle, which can mount either a .50 caliber M2 Browning machine gun, a 40mm MK19 grenade launcher or a 7.62×51mm NATO M240 machine gun. It is also armed with four M6 smoke grenade launchers.
