The Stryker is not a tank.

The Economist: Restructuring the superpower

The Stryker is a new, wheeled vehicle with tank-like armour and weapons, but lighter (and thus easier to transport) than the mainstay Abrams battle tank. The Stryker is at the centre of the transformation of America's military championed by Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary.

Even with the chicken wire up, the Stryker is nowhere near as well protected as any tank since WWI.

Oddly enough, the entire American military is not deploying Strykers. For the moment the Strykers are US Army only, and only a stepping stone to their Future Combat Systems (FCS).

The Stryker itself is a development of the Light Armored Vehicle (LAV) that the USMC has been using for years.

Each of the other armed services sees Military Transformation as a buzzword to cover their own pet projects, but if any one system could be said to represent the term it would be the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) which the USAF, USN and USMC intend to use.

If you dig a little deeper you will find the actual vision each service has, such as the Marines' Operational Maneuver From The Sea with the V-22 Osprey, the Navy's Sea Power 21 with the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) or even the Coast Guard's Deepwater with the National Security Cutter (NSC).

How this all will play together is anybody's guess.

-HJC