RCWS-30 next to CROWS
Posted on 02/09/2004 1:30:14 PM PST by Cannoneer No. 4
ARLINGTON, Va. — One of the most dangerous jobs in Iraq is acting as a gunner during convoy movements. Even up-armored Humvees, which provide added protection for most of the crew, leave the gunner exposed.
But for the gunners assigned to four special up-armored Humvees in Iraq, convoy movements are a different experience: instead of spending the drive hunched in the turret, scanning their sectors and hoping for the best, these soldiers are comfortably seated the back of the vehicle, eyes glued to a computer screen and right hand on a PlayStation-like joystick.
If the gunner, or someone else in the convoy, identifies a threat, the press of a button instantly slews the gun mounted atop the Humvee in the right direction. Then the flip of a switch puts steel on target.
Throughout the ordeal, the gunner is safe inside the armored shell of the vehicle.
The system these gunners are testing is called CROWS, for the Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station.
Designed to be mounted aboard a variety of vehicles, from armored Humvees to the new Stryker, CROWS supports the MK19 grenade machine gun, 50-caliber M2 machine gun, M249 semi-automatic weapon, and the M240B machine gun.
A fire-control computer and stabilizers allow soldiers to shoot with great accuracy, even while the vehicle is moving, according to Maj. Adam Tasca, assistant product manager for crew-served weapons at PM Soldier, Picatinny Arsenal, N.J.
Gunners “can fire a single grenade and put it right in the chest of an adversary at 1,000 meters,” Tasca said in an interview Friday at the Pentagon, where CROWS was on display.
Moreover, the system’s sensors, which include a laser rangefinder, heavy thermal weapon sight, daytime video camera, and an image intensifier, help the gunner see targets at night and in bad weather, Tasca said.
CROWS isn’t scheduled to be fielded until 2006, but last fall, senior Army leaders realized how well suited the system might be to help protect soldiers against threats in Iraq, Pete Errante, deputy program manager for crew-served weapons at PM Soldier at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., said Friday.
Four systems were promptly sent to Iraq for “operational testing,” Errante said. For security reasons, he declined to identify the unit using the CROWS, or its location.
Tasca, who recently spent six weeks in Iraq evaluating the system and soldiers’ reactions to it, said that so far the systems have been performing “superbly.”
“The reliability is 100 percent and [soldiers] love it,” said Tasca. “They want more of them.”
If commanders in Iraq decide to issue an “urgent needs” request that would subsequently be supported by Army leadership, CROWS manufacturer Recon/Optical, of Barrington, Ill., is ready to begin manufacturing the system immediately, Errante said.
Now that's a little known episode. The French did us all a big favor when they kicked Qadaffi's butt down in Chad. He was not going to stop there--Libyan agents were arrested in Mauritania and even Nigeria. But his army was whipped so badly in Chad, he lost all his military mojo in northern Africa. His Army never again was a factor. Didn't know about the Mk-19s, though. Thanks.
Don't need to, for a couple of reasons, aside from the fact that other than for sling-loading under helos, 105 towed arty is pretty well near out of the system now, and fading fast.
But the M546 APERS Flechette round is available for the M2A1 and M2A2, M101 and M103/M137/L119 *light guns*, throwing nasty little 6-grain steel flechette darts downrange...and there were the magnesium/aluminum powder *flashfire* rounds that turned a 105mm gun set for direct fire into a 100-meter flamethrower, an oversized version of the *Dragon's Breath* incendiary round for the 12-gage shotgun. I seem to recall one 9th Infantry 105 gunner getting his Medal of Honor for his use of 105mm APERS rounds when the NVA tried to overrun his base camp....
Of course I wouldn't want to have to hump the ammo for that bad boy.
I've always thought the ideal close in perimeter defense weapon would be a belt fed 12 guage loaded with a variety of 'specialty' ammo.
I used to have a few of those 'Dragons Breath' shells. Of course I got rid of them when I found out they're not legal in my state. Those babies really put out a monster flash. I've got a video of me firing them around somewhere. I'll have to find it.
Those suckers threw a wall of flame at least 60 yards.
Regards,
L
Uhhh, the M249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) is a small (15 pounds), just *slightly* larger than rifle sized, belt fed weapon that uses the 5.56x45mm round. For more information on the SAW, look here.
RCWS-30 next to CROWS
ping
This is almost exactly the same Remote Weapons System we have on the Stryker. Have fun HMMWV crews, ha...ha...HAAAA...
The Czechs are buying Israeli 30mm RWS's.
Now what I want to know is, is the 30mm RAFAEL better than the .50 cal M151.
I recall an 82nd Airborne experiment of the late 1970s known as Slammer VI, essentially the mounting of six rocket pods from attack helicopters onto an M151A1 Jeep. The idea was to offer the airborne something with a capability beyond that of their 81mm mortars, if not that of a 155 SP battery, thereby freeing up the Airborne's helo-delivered 105mm Light Guns- or for those instances when they weren't available via helo delivery, or were needed for direct fire missions.
The Artillery folks at Ft Sill found out about it and were horrified: with 17-pound warheads, the setup put more steel on target than either the 81mm or 105 could deliver, nearly equalling the cannon's capability, and not only cheapbeyond belief, but using assets already organic to the airborne and light divisions. It became a threatr to the careers of those pushing the then-yet-untried MLRS system, and so was killed by orders from on high.
But now, there are terminal guidance warhead systems like the Army APKWS available for the HYDRA-70/2.75 inch rocket, a sort of *poor man's Hellfire*....And if it works off an Apache helo, it ought to work off a Jeep or Humvee....
Sounds cool. It would definely give our troops much more effective firepower. I suppose the Slammer VI experiment wasn't the first or only time a good idea was killed by politics.
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