More than just a big gun, the Centurion C-RAM land-based phalanx weapon system, short for
counter rocket, artillery, and mortars, manufactured by Raytheon, comprises multiple systems working
in tandem to intercept and blast enemy indirect fires out of the sky.
But before any of the 20mm high explosive incendiary rounds zip downrange, the C-RAM
needs to identify the target.
To do that, it pulls targeting data from multiple sensors, including the AN/TPQ-50 Lightweight
Counter Mortar Radars, AN/TPQ-53 radars, Sentinel radars, and Ku-band Radio Frequency System
radar.
An advanced search-and-track system, the Ku-band radar system operates in the microwave range
of frequencies between 12 and 18 gigahertz (GHz), enabling closed-loop spotting technology
to automatically acquire, track, and engage targets.
Lastly, the C-RAM utilizes forward looking infrared to spot low-visibility targets in
the infrared spectrum of 1-100 microns, providing thermal imagery to an air defense operator
controlling the C-RAM.
Additionally, the AN/TPQ-50 and AN/TPQ-53 radars are used by both maneuver commanders
to fire counterfire artillery strikes on enemy points of origin.
Similar to the Land-based Phalanx Weapon System, each radar unit is capable of being vehicle
mounted, ensuring that it can be safely relocated and quickly deployed in as little as 30 minutes
to provide counterfire against incoming artillery.
Part of what makes the C-RAM so foolproof is that its targets are often acquired not
by one but by multiple counterfire radars, creating redundancy in an umbrella of air
defense assets supporting a friendly location.
But that’s just the start.
Because all that radar would be worthless without the ability to detect friend from
foe, targeting data is deconflicted by tracking friendly and enemy aircraft, cruise missiles,
unmanned aircraft systems, and mortar and rocket rounds on the Air and Missile Defense
Workstation using the Forward Area Air Defense Command
and Control system.
FAAD C2 integrates a multitude of sensors and warning systems, as well as the various
air defense assets at the military’s disposal, including the Avenger short-range missile
defense system, the Skylord Griffon Counter-UAS system, the Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense
system (MSHORAD)—a Stryker wheeled vehicle equipped with Stinger missiles, Longbow Hellfire
missiles, and a 30mm cannon used to engage low-flying aerial threats, and, you guessed
it, the C-RAM’s Land-based Phalanx Weapon system.
This overarching air picture catalogues past indirect fires, as well as friendly and enemy
aircraft, cruise missiles, or any other airborne equipment, enabling maneuver commanders to
make decisions regarding which type of targets the C-RAM should engage.
Meanwhile, an operator sits behind the Air and Missile Defense Workstation, ready to
abort the system’s engagement should an error occur.
And finally, the part you’ve been waiting for.
The Land-based Phalanx Weapon System is a gimbal-mounted M61 Gatling gun, capable of
a sustained firing rate of 4,500 rounds per minute.
That’s a staggering 75 rounds per second.
The weapon itself is a 20mm Gatling-style rotary cannon, hydraulically, electrically,
and pneumatically driven, air-cooled, and electrically fired, adapted from the U.S.
Navy’s ship-mounted MK-15 MOD 29 Block IB, Baseline 2 Close-In Weapon System, or CIWS
(“Sea Whiz”).
Contrasted, the Army’s variant of the phalanx weapon system is mounted on a HEMMT A3 heavy
truck or heavy trailer for ease of mobility and quick setup.
Also changed from the Sea Whiz, which fires armor piercing tungsten penetrator ammunition,
is the use of M940 20mm HEIT-SD round.
The high-explosive incendiary tracer round explodes, either on impact or after tracer
burnout in the event it does not impact a target, mitigating the possibility of collateral
damage from the round’s downward trajectory and unexploded ordnance littered across the
battlefield.
Once the max range of 2,000 meters is reached, the round’s tracer pyrotechnics expire and
the round self-destructs.
What’s more, while the system uses both Ku band radar and forward looking infrared
to automatically target and destroy indirect fires, an air defense operator is capable
of viewing the target through the C-RAM’s forward looking infrared sights to visually
identify what the weapon is engaging, ensuring the target isn’t a friendly or civilian
aircraft.
Limited to being a last-ditch weapon, the C-RAM isn’t without its drawbacks; that’s
part of why the U.S. military incorporates multiple air defense weapon systems.
The first drawback is the limited range.
The C-RAM is limited to engaging targets only as close as 2,000 meters, after which the
M940 munition self destructs.
Then, at a whopping $30-60,000 per engagement, the weapon is costly to fire.
Plus, a high ammunition expenditure of 300 rounds per engagement limits the weapon to
five engagements before a reload is necessary.
Each engagement requires approximately five seconds of dwell time, or the time that the
C-RAM is in firing position before it can transition to another target.
So if the enemy forces were to fire more than a five-round volley of mortars to an area
guarded by a single C-RAM, failing to destroy all incoming rounds would likely result.
Operational testing concluded the weapon to be 70-80% effective at knocking out enemy
rocket and mortar fire.
Deployed initially in 2005, in response to a June 2004 Joint Urgent Operational Needs
Statement from the Multi-National Corps-Iraq, the C-RAM Land based Phalanx Weapon System
filled a critical need in mitigating the prevalence of enemy rocket and mortar strikes seen during
Operation Iraqi Freedom.
By 2010, the first battle-ready C-RAM in its current configuration was used in protecting
the Green Zone in Iraq, an area in Baghdad used as an American embassy.
By 2013, the C-RAM was deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Also that year, the Army Acquisition Executive (AAE) designated C-RAM Intercept an Army acquisition
program and authorized fielding of C-RAM and support equipment to Avenger air defense artillery
battalions.
As of 2019, the C-RAM was also incorporated into its first field artillery battalion.
Apart from the United States, our NATO allies, Australia, Great Britain, and Germany, have
also fielded the C-RAM Land-based Phalanx Weapon System from Raytheon.
The C-RAM isn’t the only land based close-in weapon system on the global market.
Israel is famous for its Iron Dome air defense artillery system, consisting of the Tamir
Interceptor and ELM 2084 Multi-Mission Radar.
At a cost of $40-50,000 per Tamir Interceptor, Israel’s Iron Dome is on par with the C-RAM.
China also boasts a robust land-based close-in weapon system, the LD 2000 manufactured by
China North Industries Corporation.
Similar in design to the C-RAM with a 30mm Gatling gun style firing mechanism, with similar
shortcomings, including the high cost of ammunition, limited range, dwell time, and reload times.
Army executes Iron Dome Defense System What does the future hold for the C-RAM?
With the withdrawal from Afghanistan and a diminished presence of ISIL in Iraq, it’s
anyone’s guess where the next conflict will take place.
From continued instability and asymmetrical warfare in southwest Asia, to potential conflict
with China, Iran, or Russia, one thing is clear.
Rocket, artillery, and mortar indirect fires will continue to play a role in ground warfare.
And where enemy indirect fire threatens troops and equipment, C-RAM and other close-in weapon
systems will be there to counter them.
But possibly not in their present configuration.
Taking a note from science fiction, one potential is the addition of high-powered laser in place
of the phalanx weapon system.
Answering the call is Raytheon Phalanx Program Director, Kevin Peppe.
“The Centurion… customers would like a larger defended footprint beyond the kinematics
of a gunbased system.
A missile is too expensive, so we are looking instead at a solution based on the adaptation
of a robust but relatively lowpower, low beam-quality commercial laser…
By using clever optics to focus the laser beam at range, we demonstrated that we could
achieve sufficient energy on target to deflagrate a 60mm mortar round.”
In effect, a laser would heat the incoming projectile to the point of exploding, knocking
it out of the air.
In fact, as of 2014, the U.S. Navy installed LaWS laser systems onboard the USS Ponce,
controlled by the same system as the Sea Whiz.
As of 2016, the U.S. Navy’s guided missile destroyers and littoral combat ships were
outfitted with the LaWS system, to be used in conjunction with the Sea Whiz close in
weapons system.
With a near-unlimited magazine and no kinetic or explosive munitions to worry about falling
on a civilian populace, time will tell whether a similar laser phalanx system accompanies
the C-RAM as an air defense weapon or replaces it outright.
However, there are critics of autonomous weapon systems and the use of computer-aided decision
making.
As of 2020, The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots urged “states to launch negotiations on
an international treaty to retain meaningful human control over targeting and attack decisions
by prohibiting the development, production, and use of fully autonomous weapons.”
Similar to organizations such as the International Committee for Robot Arms Control and Human
Rights Watch, the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots principal concerns comprise of a lack
of human judgement and accountability in lethal decision making, the dehumanizing effect of
autonomous weapons lowering the threshold for war and making it easier to enter an armed
conflict with troops off the battlefield, and the potential algorithmic biases derived
from the use of artificial intelligence.
While the United Nations is not fully in agreement with what constitutes an autonomous weapon,
the U.S. Department of Defense has stipulated, “Autonomous and semi-autonomous weapon systems
shall be designed to allow commanders and operators to exercise appropriate levels of
human judgment over the use of force.”
The C-RAM is not entirely automated, as the system itself does not define target criteria,
and an operator is at all times capable of aborting an engagement.
So, any thought you might have had of Skynet taking over and terminators ravaging the whole
of humanity will not come to fruition… yet.
From its utilization of counterfire radar, connected systems to integrate sensors and
air defense assets across the battlespace, to the phalanx weapon itself, automation helps
make this system foolproof.
In addition, there’s the human element—continuous improvement and innovation of the weapons
system by engineers and developers, military leadership making informed decisions on targeting,
and ultimately the trained C-RAM operator who help make the C-RAM such a foolproof and
effective weapon system, designed to keep troops on the ground safe and mitigate civilian
casualties and collateral damage.