2nd Cavalry tests new Strykers with increased firepower for first time outside US

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany — A Stryker squadron in Germany this week tested newly modernized vehicles with live ammunition for the first time, bringing added firepower and faster targeting to NATO’s eastern flank.

Vilseck-based 2nd Cavalry Regiment soldiers from the 3rd Squadron conducted a gunnery exercise Thursday at the Grafenwoehr Training Area in their new Stryker Double-V Hull Infantry Carrier Vehicles, upgraded with a 30 mm medium-caliber weapons system.

The 20 revamped Strykers began arriving in February and will soon reach the rest of the regiment, said Capt. Alexander Stamatiou, commander of the squadron’s Killer Troop.

Beyond the 30 mm semiautomatic cannon, the vehicles are equipped with M240 machine guns. Commanders also have vehicles equipped with self-contained 120 mm mortars, an array of .50-caliber machine guns and mounted Javelin anti-tank launchers, Stamatiou said. 

Soldiers with 2nd Cavalry Regiment prepare to fire the new variant of Stryker, the ICVVA1-30mm, during a qualification range at Grafenwoehr Training Area on Aug. 20, 2026. The exercise marked the first time soldiers with 3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment fired live rounds from the upgraded Stryker variant on European soil, part of a fleet of 20 new vehicles equipped with a 30-millimeter cannon that gives NATO’s eastern flank added firepower (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)

“Versus a peer adversary, for an infantry carrier vehicle these are unmatched,” he said.

Called “Dragoons” by the soldiers, the vehicles offer more interior space as well as improved engines, optics, communications and targeting systems, Stamatiou said. The soldiers of 3rd Squadron were the first to receive them outside the U.S.

Perhaps the biggest game-changer is that soldiers no longer have to climb outside their vehicles to reload their weapons or perform maintenance, Stamatiou said.

That advantage became apparent Thursday when a round jammed in Sgt. Oliver Estela’s machine gun. The former ground infantry soldier climbed into the unmanned turret and cleared the jam. He was firing again minutes later.

“It’s more convenient,” Estela said of the new Stryker variant, which he called “way more capable than our older platforms.”

Army Sgt. Oliver Estela, a Stryker vehicle commander with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, prepares to destroy simulated enemy targets at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, during a range qualification of the Stryker vehicle's new ICVVA1-30mm variant on Aug. 20, 2026. The exercise marked the first time soldiers with 3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment fired live rounds from the upgraded Stryker variant on European soil, part of a fleet of 20 new vehicles equipped with a 30-millimeter cannon that gives NATO's eastern flank added firepower. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)

The Army selected Oshkosh Defense to integrate the 30 mm cannon into the vehicles in 2021. The service then ordered 269 upgraded variants for $356 million.

The new systems also cut down on targeting time by giving infantry squad leaders independent sights that allow them to paint targets for the vehicle gunners, Spc. Spencer Riley said.

“There’s actually a feature where I can flip a switch and my gun will automatically move to what he’s looking at,” he said. “And then I can engage straight from there.”

A soldier overlooks the new ICVVA1-30mm Stryker variant attached to 2nd Cavalry Regiment during a range qualification at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany on Aug. 20, 2026. The exercise marked the first time soldiers with 3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment fired live rounds from the upgraded Stryker variant on European soil, part of a fleet of 20 new vehicles equipped with a 30- millimeter cannon that gives NATO's eastern flank added firepower. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)

Soldiers from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment fire their new Stryker variant, the ICVVA1-30mm, during a qualification range in Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, on Aug. 20, 2026. The exercise marked the first time soldiers with 3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment fired live rounds from the upgraded Stryker variant on European soil, as part of a fleet of 20 new vehicles equipped with a 30-millimeter cannon that gives NATO's eastern flank added firepower. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)

The Army is working to integrate anti-drone systems through initiatives like Project Flytrap, marked by the experimentation of various vehicle-mounted and wearable systems designed to detect, track and jam hostile drones.

Personnel transports have become a target of first-person and off-the-shelf drones during the war between Russia and Ukraine, with grainy videos being posted to social media.

“I’ll take one of these any day of the week,” Riley said of the revamped Stryker. “You can reach out and touch somebody pretty far with these things. You got a nice armor-piercing round.”