From the beginning of the work on the Army's Medium Brigades development in the late 1990s, it was obvious that the air force wound not have enough heavy transports to move a medium brigade anywhere quickly. Even before the War in Afghanistan demonstrated how many other chores the 300 or so air force heavy transports would have to perform, the army decided to make sure the new Stryker LAV (wheeled Light Armored Vehicle) could fit into one of the 400 smaller C-130 transports the air force uses. A C-130 can carry anything that will fit inside the aircraft cargo bay, as long as that item does not weigh more than 44,000 pounds. Actually, when the item goes over 38,000 pounds, the C-130s range is restricted. So the practical limit is 38,000, and the current weight of the Stryker is nearly 42,000 pounds. But that includes 5,500 pounds of fuel and equipment. So the short term solution is to put the Strykers in C-130s minus most of their equipment and fuel (which would arrive in another C-130.)