C-RAM
Air Defense Artillery Takes On New Counter-Rockets, Artillery and Mortars Intercept Mission
by CPT Scott L. Mace
Land-Based Phalanx Weapon System
With hostile rocket and mortar attacks inflicting significant casualties in Iraq, the Army is moving forward with testing to support the counter-rockets, artillery and mortars (C-RAM) mission. The C-RAM mission represents a revolutionary approach to countering insurgent activities by intercepting rockets, artillery and mortar rounds in the air prior to impact; thereby, reducing or eliminating any damage they might cause. The Army is integrating existing sensors, systems and command and control capabilities to provide a C-RAM capability that units can easily incorporated into forward operating base and logistics supply area defenses. The C-RAM systems, once deployed, have the potential to save lives and reduce injuries from rocket, artillery and mortar attacks
The weapon system selected as the near-term C-RAM interceptor is the Army’s Land-Based Phalanx Weapon System, a reconfigured version of the U.S. Navy’s Phalanx Close-In Weapon System. The Navy uses its sea-based system as a point-defense weapon to protect the fleet from low-flying cruise missiles and other air threats. The Phalanx was first tested for C-RAM missions in November 2004 and did so well that C-RAM production was moved forward. The first test of the Army-configured C-RAM system took place in April 2005 at Yuma Proving Grounds, Ariz.
The Army made slight reconfigurations to the Navy system to integrate it into the Army’s ground defense mission and command and control structure. The 20mm, six-barrel Phalanx gun system and its search and track radars are trailer-mounted to allow movement to key military sites. Figure 1 shows the basic layout. The Phalanx is familiar to some air defenders because it is similar to the Vulcan air defense gun system, which was the mainstay of divisional air defense battalions in the 1970s through the early 1990s.
The Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control (FAAD C2) system is one of the technologies used to integrate the C-RAM intercept system with other presently fielded Army and joint service systems. The FAAD C2 software and hardware solution allows the C-RAM system to communicate freely with existing air defense sensors and other Army battle command systems. The C-RAM unit uses the Air and Missile Defense Work Station (AMDWS) to pass information to other Army battle command systems. Put together, these tools will allow soldiers working in engagement operations cells to easily integrate a C-RAM battery into the defense of a forward operating base.
Colonel Paul McGuire, the C-RAM Intercept Task Force leader, said “The deployment of this weapon system and its integration into a holistic approach to defeat rocket, artillery and mortar threats will change the face of operations on the battlefield and will force the insurgents, currently operating in Iraq, to seriously consider their activities when attacking deployed forces. The enemy will be forced to change his tactics and potentially make mistakes that will allow coalition forces to react quickly and defeat his threats.”
The first battery to perform the C-RAM mission is C Battery, 5th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery, a separate Bradley Stinger Fighting Vehicle force that has been testing the C-RAM system and perfecting C-RAM battle drills for several months. Charlie Battery Soldiers are now the tip of the spear in C-RAM development and fielding.
Charlie Battery will be augmented with Navy personnel who have many years of experience on the basic system to make up the first C-RAM Intercept Battery. Navy personnel are already an integral part of the battery’s daily operation. Sailors quickly pass their expertise from years of maintaining and operating this system to Soldiers. The Soldiers received training from the Navy in several locations across the United States to facilitate the operational timeline. Soldiers have been firing the weapon system and intercepting mortars and rockets regularly. Their training culminated in a mission rehearsal exercise in Yuma. With help from the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Air Defense Artillery, during the evaluation, the mission rehearsal exercise was successfully completed, and Charlie Battery is considered trained for any potential C-RAM mission.
Collateral damage has always been a major concern whenever combat developers considered high-speed gun systems as a solution to the rocket, artillery and mortar threat. In urban terrain or heavily populated areas, outgoing rounds might prove as dangerous—if not more dangerous—than incoming rounds. To minimize collateral damage, the C-RAM interceptor will fire rounds that self-destruct (High-Explosive Incendiary Tracer Rounds-Self Destruct) when they miss their targets. These rounds have a very low dud rate, and studies show that residue from self-destructed rounds cause minimal damage.
Chief Petty Officer Jonny S. Schurch, the Navy’s lead chief assigned to Charlie Battery said the system would be even more effective except for safety measures imposed to prevent friendly casualties and collateral damage.
As First Sergeant Stephen D. Kinzer observed, the Phalanx system will have to prove itself in new combat environments, where it has never been deployed. Time will tell how environmental factors may affect the intercept system once it arrives in a theater of operations.
Charlie Battery continues to operate on an aggressive schedule, racing an accelerated timeline, to bring the intercept capabilities online and prepare for a potential deployment. Every day that goes by before we deploy the system is another day service members have to survive rocket or mortar attacks without C-RAM protection. The sooner the C-RAM system is deployed, the sooner Soldiers, Sailors, airmen and Marines on forward operating bases will sleep safer and wake more rested for the next day’s missions. The overall goal is to save lives and make the cost of firing mortars at U.S. soldiers in Iraq too high for the insurgency to pay. Soldiers of Charlie Battery have accepted the mission of saving Soldiers’ lives and are prepared to execute their new mission.
Captain Scott L. Mace commands C Battery, 5th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery, the Army’s first C-RAM battery. He was also the officer in charge of the Army’s first Air Defense Airspace Management (ADAM) Cell. The author would like to thanks COL Paul McGuire for his assistance on this article.
Source: http://airdefense.bliss.army.mil/adamag/June%202005/C-RAM.htm
Anyone know of the deployment results ?
