Posted on 03/25/2008 9:16:00 AM PDT by klpt
FOB BASE KALSU, Iraq: A Phalanx Gatling gun, most often used by naval ships to defend against incoming missiles and rockets, has been installed at Forward Operating Base Kalsu in Iraq to add a little extra punch to the base's defense system.
The gun, modified to be land-based, was installed in late February. It looks like an R2 unit from Star Wars, but unlike the little astromech droid, this gun packs a punch.
Although very complex -- having the ability to destroy incoming artillery, rocket and mortar rounds in the air before they hit their targets on the ground -- the gun is still only as good as the Soldiers manning the defense system. The Soldiers upon whom this task falls are from Battery A, 5/5 Air Defense Artillery, 2nd Infantry Division.
As the only Army counter-rocket, artillery and mortar Intercept Battery deployed in Iraq, the job was a natural fit for the air defense Soldiers. Still, preparing for the mission was a time-consuming process, one which involved preparing the new gun site and coordinating its arrival with the necessary logistical support.
Many other agencies, including Multi-National Corps-Iraq and the base Mayor's Cell, got involved, helping streamline the process. It was amazing how the different agencies came together to cut a lot of the red tape," said Capt. Andrew Cornwell, 5/5 ADA commander.
The help allowed the group to complete all the necessary preparation work before the gun arrived. Preparation involved placing more than 50 T-walls to secure the area, the construction of a guard shack and running power and fiber optics to the gun site.
"I'm surprised at how fast the fiber got laid and was ready to go," said Staff Sgt. Paul Yuhas, Battery A shift noncommissioned officer.
Although the task of preparing and installing the gun is complete, there is still a lot left to be done by the Battery A Soldiers. The responsibility of manning the gun station will fall on these Soldiers for the remainder of their deployment.
Still, the protection provided by the gun to Soldiers and civilians living on the base is enough motivation for them to continue to do their job and show the Air Defense Branch's commitment and key fighting position in Iraq.
We were testing the system when I was just a young Ensign - my division owned the CIWS. We had a failure of the bolt restraining the two spacer plates on the barrels. The spacers rattled free and were shot to bits by the guns before the failsafe shut her down. The shrapnel littered the gun turret and a small piece rattled around the box and somehow came back up, got around the side protection on my ‘approved’ safety glasses and lodged in my right eye. The ships doc removed it with tweezers - it measured just shy of a full millimeter and had fortunately stuck end in so the laceration was small. My vision is still +20/20.
It's a cool piece of gear and somehow I still have a soft spot in my heart for ole R2.
My unit in the Air Force was tasked with doing the Sgt York’s radar testing.
The gun was pegged so it wouldn’t accidently kill the crowd of dignitaries seated to watch it shoot down a helicopter.
The helicopter was manually blown up and the crowd cheered not knowing that the rounds didn’t go anywhere near the helicopter.
The contractors claimed that we used our gear to jam the guns radar. Whoops, we didn’t have anything that could jam anything. We were just recorded its radar.
Definitely NOT the “Gamma Goat”. ;)
Most dangerous vehicle I’ve ever used.
We gave them to the Ft. Sill post fire department and they hated us for it.
The vehicle I’m thinking about is single-chassis, non-articulated with four wheels on each side. The front and back pairs were slightly elevated, so that the vehicle could spin around the two inner pairs.
I never saw it outside of Ft. Knox, so I think it was a prototype.
Yeah. DIVADs = “Sgt. York” Interesting concept but they never could get it to work as advertised.
It was a great idea I think. It was a hazzard to anyone sitting behind it as compared to the aircraft in front of guns.
Found it:
Excalibur
http://www.airdefenseartillery.com/online/New%20Print%20Archive/1984/Fall%201984/NewExcalbur.pdf
Yeah, my first reaction was “you don’t want to be downrange of that thing”.
“Know your target, and what is beyond.”
You too.
Ah-ha. Yeah, The *Standard.* The company also built or reworked 8x8 aircraft firefighting trucks, as I recall. But as I thought, it was one of the amphibious wheeled vehicles we considered useful at the time, NONE of which are inventoried today. We come to a blue line, we get a scissors bridge, a helo airlift, or come to a screeching halt.
Like I said, we got some really interesting *funnies* in that period [the M151A1 jeep and jeep-trailer-mounted *Slammer XI* MLRS rocket setup developed by the 82nd Airborne to give them an area saturation weapon with a greater range than the 81mm mortar was an impressive example, and since it used the standard 2.75" helicopter rocket pods of the Huey Cobra gunship, all the components were already in their system. Throw in today's GPS, and it'd be perfect] at least the equal to anything developed for Hobart's 79th Armored Division for the D-Day landings- some of which soldiered on until well after the Korean War.
At least we got the Humvee out of the deal....
There's at least one other FReeper who was heavily involved in the DIVADS development and testing. I don't recall who right off the top of my head, but I'll dig through some of my old notes and see if I can find out.
I was at Ft. Lewis in 1986 when the 9th ID (Motorized) was testing everything wheeled under the sun. HMMWVs with 20mms, the original FAV (long before SEALs got into the act), Kawasaki KL250s. You name it.
I remember the ground-based Hydra-70s of the time, but I never saw them in the US inventory.
Why did Russia fly our system?
Not quite. The Phalanx would absolutely smoke the Sgt York. And it WORKS.
I think the A-10 only carries enough rounds for a full 3 or 5 second burst. Add that the cannon is 30mm.
I like the Phalanx too. Both have different purposes and are cool in their own way.
The problem with CIWS -- or any similar system built around a rotary barrel cannon on land -- is the ammunition consumption problem. Less of a problem on a ship.
Then, as another poster alluded, there is the problem of the radar system for the d@mn thing announcing it's presence. In order for this thing to work against sudden mortar attacks the RADAR would have to be left ON. OK perhaps for a 'permissive environment' like the one we have now in Iraq, but you'd certainly wouldn't expect it to survive against the Russians or Chinese.
Then there's the problem of the system being left in "automatic mode" which is the only way the thing has any value. Remember the frigate, USS Stark, that got zapped by Iraq back in the early '80's? The R2D2 was in manual mode because -- at the time -- they didn't trust the thing not to zap some innocent craft that flew or sailed too close in the congested of the northern Gulf.
Why was this flown in on a Russian transport???
I was at the Elect. Warfare Center at Kelly AFB. We got shipped all over to do defensive testing and to make sure that radars worked the way they were supposed to.
Fun job but I got to see all the garden spots; Edwards, Tonapah, China Lake, Midland TX, etc...
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