FV102 Striker

The FV102 Striker was the anti-tank guided missile carrier in the CVR(T) family and served in the British Army.

FV102 Striker
Privately owned FV102 Striker
TypeAnti-tank vehicle
Place of originUnited Kingdom
Service history
Used byUK
Production history
ManufacturerAlvis
Produced1972-1985
No. built350
Specifications
Mass8.1 tonnes
Length4.8 m
Width2.4 m
Height2.2 m
Crew3
Armour12.7 mm
Main
armament
Swingfire
in five bins with 5 reloads
Secondary
armament
1 x 7.62 mm L7 GPMG
2 x 71mm Lyran mortars (Belgium only)[1]
EngineCummins BTA 5.9-litre diesel.
190 hp (142 kW)
Power/weight23.5 hp/tonne
Suspensiontorsion bar
Operational
range
756 km (470 mi)
Maximum speed 80 km/h

Overview

FV102 Striker was the Swingfire wire-guided anti-tank missile carrying member of the CVR(T) family. The FV102 Striker was externally very similar to the FV103 Spartan but carried five missiles in a ready-to-fire bin at the back of the vehicle. Five reload missiles were carried in the vehicle. The bin was elevated to 35° (622mils) for firing. The targeting sight could be demounted and operated at a distance from the vehicle which could remain in cover, even completely screened as the missile can turn up to 90° after launch to come onto the target heading. The missiles were originally steered by joystick control using manual command to line of sight (MCLOS). This was later updated to the semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) system where the controller merely sights the target.[2] Secondary armament was a general purpose machine gun.

Development

The Striker was developed for the British Army to fire the Swingfire missile. The first production vehicles were delivered in 1975 and used in British Army service by the Royal Artillery anti-tank guided missile batteries. The vehicle initially was powered by the Jaguar J60 4.2-litre 6-cylinder petrol engine - the same as used by several Jaguar cars. This was then replaced by a Cummins BTA 5.9 diesel engine, as used in British Army FV107 Scimitars, under the CVR(T) life extension programme.

Service history

Striker entered service in 1976 with the Royal Artillery of the BAOR, but since then have been transferred to the Royal Armoured Corps where they served in formation reconnaissance regiments. On 24 March 2003, during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a Striker destroyed an Iraqi T-55 tank with an anti-tank missile.[3] The FV102 Striker was withdrawn from British Army service as the Swingfire missile was replaced by the Javelin missile in mid-2005.

Additional specification

Operators
Map with FV102 operators in blue

Former operators

References
  1. Richard M. Ogorkiewicz (July–August 1975). "Turretless Tanks?". ARMOR The Magazine of Mobile Warfare. Vol. LXXXXIV no. 4. ISSN 0098-4604.
  2. Striker - British Army Archived 17 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Rossiter, Mike, Target Basra , Corgi, 2009 ISBN 0552157007 ISBN 978-0552157001, p.248
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