Meet Sergeant Stout: Army Gives Stryker-Based M-SHORAD a Proper Name

Air war, ground war

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military turned a year older Friday and is celebrating its 249th birthday today, officially changing the name of its Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) to Sergeant Stout.

The modified The Stryker-based weapon is now named after Sgt. Mitchell William Stoutthe only Army air defense gunner to earn the Medal of Honor, after his death in Vietnam on March 12, 1970, when his bunker came under mortar fire.

“Stout ran toward the grenade, picked it up, held it close to his body and started to walk out of the bunker,” Army acquisition manager Doug Bush told reporters Thursday. “Upon reaching the door, the grenade exploded, then shielded the explosion with his body. [to protect] his fellow soldiers from further injury or death.

This is the second year in a row that the service has taken the opportunity to rename a weapon. Last year he announced that his Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) “light tank” was being renamed the M10 Booker fighting vehicle, and Bush announced that more name changes were on the horizon.

As for the sergeant Beer, The service currently has an approved directed requirement for 162 of these systems to support the training and fielding of four battalions, and so far three of those units have received the new air defense weapon, according to Brig. Gen. Frank Lozano, program executive officer for missiles and space. However, that number could potentially jump to between 312 and 361 vehicles, in part to cover new equipment for four National Guard battalions.

In its basic configuration, it equips Stryker A1 vehicles with a host of capabilities to eliminate aerial threats, including unmanned aircraft systems and rotary and fixed wing aircraft. General Dynamics Land Systems is currently the program manager.integrating into the Leonardo DRS mission equipment package which includes Moog's Reconfigurable Integrated Weapons Platform (RIwP) Turret and Rada USA's Multi-Mission Hemispheric Radar.

The RIwP's initial configuration includes an M299 launcher modified for two Longbow Hellfire missiles, a Raytheon Stinger Universal Vehicle Launcher (SVUL) to hold four surface-to-air missiles, Northrop Grumman's Bushmaster XM914 30mm chain gun, and an M240 machine gun 7.62mm. .

However, this set of weapons is evolving as more soldiers test them and threats emerging from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

“We interact very closely with current units that are receiving the Sergeant Stout capability, and that allows us to plan incremental improvements to the current capability,” the one-star general told reporters.

“Any time you put something in the hands of a Soldier for the first time, you learn a lot and it can be as simple as a switch that we put on a remote control, and the Soldier says, you know, the switch would really be better on the touch screen.

Part of this upgrade plan includes the addition of the FIM-92 Stinger replacement missile – dubbed the Next Generation Short-Range Interceptor – which is currently in competition.

Furthermore, the service is pursuing other M-SHORAD initiatives which will not allow Sergeant beer name. These include an Smounted on tryker 50 kilowatt laser prototype and a recently released Request for Information on M-SHORAD “Increment 4” capabilities that could potentially be integrated into Joint Light Tactical Vehicles or robots like the Small Multi-Purpose Equipment Transport.