81st Airmobile Brigade Equipped with Stryker APCs

The 81st Airmobile Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been armed with American Stryker armored personnel carriers.

This is spotted in photos published on the brigade’s Facebook page.

The equipment was likely transferred earlier, but it has only now been decided to disclose this.

The Stryker armored fighting vehicles were involved in the recent training of paratroopers in an urban environment.

The 81st Airmobile Brigade noted that this is not just standard training, but full-scale operations with specific scenarios that have already become a reality on the frontlines.

Specifically, the training focused on ‘mopping up’ buildings, coordination and communication between units, and command oversight of operations.

Given that many of the recent major battles with Russian invaders have occurred in urban areas, Ukrainian paratroopers are continuously refining their skills to operate effectively in these environments.

“Because these skills are honed to the point of automatism and yield results on the battlefield,” the brigade emphasized.

Some units of the Air Assault Forces of Ukraine have received M1126 Stryker armored personnel carriers as part of U.S. military assistance.

These vehicles are used for transporting personnel to the frontline and in combat operations. They are equipped with a remotely operated M151 Protector with an M2 machine gun.

Stryker is a family of wheeled armored fighting vehicles developed and manufactured by the American company General Dynamics Land Systems. In the basic version, an armored personnel carrier can carry up to twelve people, particularly three crew members. Most APCs are armed with an M151 Protector RWS, a M2 Browning 12.7mm machine gun, or a Mk.19 40mm automatic grenade launcher.

Stryker armor protection is able to withstand a circular shelling of 7.62mm caliber rifle weapons. When using Mexas add-on ceramic protection, the circular protection of the vehicle withstands shelling from 14.5mm machine guns, and in the frontal projection, the hit of 30mm armor-piercing rounds from a distance of 500 meters. The Ukrainian company Metinvest has launched serial production of protective screens for such APCs.