By Spc. Nikki St. Amant/The Bayonet

FORT BENNING, Ga. (TRADOC News Service, Jan. 7, 2005) – The Army is sending powerful reinforcements next week to Iraq via a shipment of 35 cutting-edge, vehicle-mounted weapons systems designed to save coalition lives and destroy enemy forces like never before.

This first wave of Common Remotely Operated Weapon Stations will be divided among Special Forces, military police, infantry and transportation units. Congress recently approved $70.5 million to provide for the manufacture and deployment of 254 units by year’s end.

CROWS, manufactured by Recon/Optical, Inc., is a gunner-operated system capable of remotely aiming and firing a suite of crew-served weapons from inside the relative safety of armored vehicles.

The idea is to get the gunner out of the turret – an extremely dangerous position that has been the cause of a significant number of injuries and deaths in Operation Iraqi Freedom, said Staff Sgt. Robert Jones.

Jones is the project NCO for crew-served weapons with the Directorate of Combat Development’s Small-Arms Division. He will assist in training the units that are receiving CROWS and assess the system in combat operations. It will be the second tour to Iraq for the new system.

The first rotation, conducted from late December 2003 to March 2004, showed the four initial CROWS effectively accomplished the objective to protect the gunner from improvised explosive devices and small-arms fire. But, Jones said, it’s the secondary purpose, taking out the enemy, which makes CROWS such a valuable tool for Soldiers in the field.

The top-mounted weapons system was initially designed to fire the MK-19 grenade machinegun, M-2 .50-caliber machinegun, M-240B medium machinegun and M-249 squad automatic weapon, providing flexibility for varying mission requirements. More flexibility for different unit missions has been added with the development of new weapon kits since March 2004 like the T230-LF, the 30mm machinegun known for its role in the Apache attack helicopter’s arsenal.

The system comes equipped with a daytime video camera featuring dual-action stabilization for rough rides, a laser range finder, ballistic computer, second-generation forward-looking infrared sights, heavy thermal weapons sight and state-of-the-art display- and control-panel system.

With streaming video and the laser range finder, a gunner can continuously pan 360 degrees while on the move in an urban environment, zoom in on targets, target a point of impact and the ballistic computer will adjust the weapon’s point of aim accordingly, Jones said. With a stationary platform, the system is capable of identifying, targeting and destroying enemy elements beyond 2,000 meters with one-shot, one-kill accuracy and no collateral damage.

“We have engaged enemy targets from more than 1,000 meters from the stationary position with immediate destruction. The point accuracy from our .50-caliber mounted on the CROWS is a great combat multiplier,” said 1st Lt. Brandon Bure, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, Camp Victory North, Iraq, in an after-action review of his unit’s experience with one of the original four CROWS. “Once bore-sighted and zeroed, we will hit a target we aim for. We can not replicate this with standard, crew-served weapons.”

CROWS’ 98 percent accuracy is one of many other assets the system brings to security forces in the Army’s urban battlefield, said Jones.

The heavy thermal weapon sights surpass conventional sights and exponentially increase the survivability and surveillance capabilities of vehicles equipped with the system, he said.

“During the first night we arrived at al-Karama, the thermal sights couldn’t have been more effective,” said Sgt. James Reid, 410th Military Police Company, in one of his unit’s AARs of the CROWS’ battle performance. “We were able to spot insurgents and vehicles at a greater distance than the other Soldiers with PVS-7Bs. In one engagement, a Jeep came out around 1,000 meters away and had an insurgent armed with (a rocket-propelled grenade) in the back, which no one else could see but our two CROWS. The threats were then neutralized.”

CROWS is capable of conducting detailed, high-resolution surveillance operations from several kilometers away – a valuable tool for coalition forces on the ground in Iraq, Jones said. Their efforts to identify the enemy and prevent the use of IEDs have been hampered by urban surveillance capabilities until now.

While conducting the initial combat assessment in February 2004, Jones deployed two CROWS teams along a main supply route that had been plagued by IEDs.

“Using the enhanced night capabilities, the CROWS systems were able to observe the route at key areas of interest without being detected by threat personnel,” he said. “As a direct result of this mission, no IEDs were found or encountered along the route for several days. The CROWS system proved to be an extremely effective tool in preventing and deterring the enemy’s activities against coalition forces.”

This surveillance capability rounds out a package of assets well-designed to protect mounted gunners and maximize their potential as weapons in an urban environment.
The CROWS’ evolution from an idea to protect turret gunners to a full-spectrum combat multiplier is one Jones said could help turn the tide on the Iraqi front.

“This is going to change the way we fight the war,” he said. “If we can get all these units on the ground, it will change the ways commanders can employ their units to engage the enemy.”

Assisting in CROWS’ development is one of several tasks in keeping with DCD’s mission to support Soldiers.

“The mission of DCD is to write requirements and ensure Soldier needs are met,” said Maj. Glenn Dean, chief of the Small-Arms Division. “Soldier input through the chain of command and surveys will ensure the Soldiers have what they need to fight and win. Other programs in development include a new weapons family and unmanned aerial vehicles like the Raven.

“When we find technologies like CROWS that provide a dramatic increase in capability, we try to put it in Soldiers’ hands as quickly as possible,” Dean said.

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