U.S. Army Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar (CRAM) Gun Test Fire. The Northrop Grumman Counter-Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar (C-RAM) is the latest innovation for defending troops from aerial attacks.
Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar (C-RAM or CRAM) or Land-based Phalanx Weapon System (LPWS), is a set of systems used to detect and/or destroy incoming artillery, rockets and mortar rounds in the air before they hit their ground targets such as war-fighting personnel and high-value assets.
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CRAM is effectively a land version of weapons such as the Phalanx CIWS radar-controlled rapid-fire gun for close-in protection of vessels from missiles.
Primary components of CRAM:
– LPWS, a modified U.S. Navy Phalanx Close-In Weapon System mounted on a commercial 35-ton semitrailer for land-based operations.
– M61A1 20 mm Gatling gun capable of onboard target acquisition and fire control.
– M940 designed to self-destruct beyond 2,000 meters to minimize collateral damage.
– Integrated search-and-track radars detect and engage a wide range of IDF threats.
– Command and control system integrates sensors, weapons, and warning systems.
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The C-RAM can actually be adapted to current artillery as a means of anti-air attack. It acts as a warning system to quickly fire upon mortars, missiles or enemy warplanes. This technology could drastically improve conditions for soldiers stationed in enemy territory.
“C-RAM uses the sensor, command and control, and visualization tools to detect incoming threats and locate their sources. Once C-RAM confirms the threat, its command, and control (C2) system warns exposed soldiers, and provides track data to the intercept system to destroy the incoming RAM threat, and passes the point of origin and point of impact information on to other systems and sensors.”
The advanced air defense system is being developed by the Army Contracting Command is expected to be finished by 2019. In the following video, we can see a fully operational C-RAM testing out its weapons with the United States Military.
