Our Defense Tech contributor who keeps a close eye on the Middle East, Aharon Etengoff of Weaponsurvey, reports:
The Israeli Defense Ministry holds high-level talks with the Pentagon on purchasing the Phalanx B, or C-RAM, a rapid-fire cannon to protect strategic installations against Palestinian projectiles. It should be noted that the C-RAM (manufactured by Raytheon) is fully operational and available for immediate deployment.
The C-RAM is a radar-controlled gun adapted from a US Navy original, which can fire 4,500 rounds a minute and destroy incoming mortar bombs before impact. According to Jane’s Defense Weekly, the Land-based Phalanx Weapon System (LPWS) “is a reconfigured variant of the widely sold Phalanx 20 mm shipborne close-in weapon system [that] combines a 20 mm M61A1 Gatling gun with a Ku-band search-and-track radar featuring closed loop spotting.”
Sean Osborne, Associate Director of NEIN Military Affairs & NEIN Blog:
“The C-RAM is deployed at US FOBs (Forward Operating Bases) all over Iraq — not just in the so-called Green Zone. C-RAMs success rate in shooting mortar rounds and other incoming indirect ordnance out of the sky is better than 85% according to data I’ve received from those who’ve installed these systems in Iraq. C-RAM counter-fires which miss the incoming target do not simply fall to ground — each 20mm round is fused to self-destruct if contact is not made with the target.
The IDF Research & Development Directorate’s (MAFAT) refusal to acquire and deploy the C-RAM system in defense of Sderot or other Israeli towns is several echelons below unfortunate, and appears to be couched in political considerations which have nothing to do with the suffering of the citizens of Sderot. The non-acquisition is sending a message of abandonment to the women and children of Sderot who are under severe traumatic stress and psychological pressures not unlike that of soldiers in combat.“
Uzi Rubin:
“This is a very effective system for protecting strategic installations…It covers a radius of up to a kilometer and would be ideal for protecting key installations like power plants and IDF bases.”
IDF Chief Intelligence Officer Brig.-Gen. Yuval Halamish:
“This [Palestinian rockets] is a close-to-home threat that has an impact on the home front as well as the national morale…Our ability to deal with this threat is difficult until being almost impossible in certain places.“
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Unfortunate that USAID does not have a “Rent to Own” Program.
What happens to the projectiles that DON’T hit the incoming target? Israel and Gaza etc…are pretty well populated…
Anyone know?
What happens to the projectiles that DON’T hit the incoming target? Israel and Gaza etc…are pretty well populated…
Anyone know?
@Matt Roth – read closer.
I read up on this & saw that the Skyguard 35mm System was also being considered for this by Israel.Would the Metal Storm System,like a 40mm with Self-Destruct Fuse 36-barrel System also work for this?
I hope this math is close to correct… The C-Ram system has a radius effect of 1000 meters. Thats 2000 meters in diameter, So about 6000 feet so about 1 mile of effective defense. The Gaza strip is 25 miles long and 6 miles deep. So would about 25-30 really be all it would take to stop 85 percent of the munitions flying out of Gaza? Take into consideration some angles wouldn’t be needed as protecting desert isn’t as important as cities and you cut the number or double up in populated or sensitive areas. Sound about right or is that just overkill or overspend?
I’d shut off the self destruct on the Gaza bound shells. A little incentive to stop the attacks.
txzen, other way around. You only need the system to protect your assets, not to create a shield around the launch site. Rockets and mortars are shot down by the system while in mid-flight or during their descent towards the target. It doesn’t matter where in Gaza the mortars are launched from as long as the target has the C-RAM nearby.
Dang, someone beat me to the idea.
Actually it wouldn’t be practical to shut off the fuses for targeting incoming. Chances are you would be hitting it from angles other than straight on, so the rounds would be impacting blocks away from the launcher…now having a second system with the 30mm goal keeper set up to track back to the launch site and hose it…that has promise. Or better yet, artillary…
Can you say counter battery fire?
counterbattery capability would be ideal, especially with the “smart” artillery rounds available today.
hell yea always wondered why they wernt foaming at the mouth for this system. i mean its gotten good test results and review in iraq right
Middle East Newsline reported years ago about the difficulties of anti-mortar radars, and low detection rate by these radars within Iraq. Integrated with C-RAM, it’s not going to be a silver bullet what the Israelis are going to want.
If the C-RAM proves effective, Israel had better be prepared for the Palestinians to switch tactics. Homegrown Qassam missles are much preferable to suicide bombers or Katyusha rockets.
What happens to the projectiles that DON’T hit the incoming target? Israel and Gaza etc…are pretty well populated…
Anyone know?
+++++++++++
Would the jews care if uninvolved arab civilians got killed? No. They never have in the past, so no reason to see why they would start now.
Would the jews care if uninvolved arab civilians got killed? No. They never have in the past, so no reason to see why they would start now.
Hey A.Nony, your blood libel is showing.
A.Nony, the article stated that rounds which don’t impact their targets are fused to explode. Did you bother reading the article before showing your “blood libel?”
Metal storm sucks, and would be terrible in this role.
Just because you can fire rounds REALLY FAST doesnt mean anything if your ammo capacity is small, which is always going to be the case with metal storm, thanks to the fact that the ammo has to be stored in barrels, so each barrel can only take a handful of shots.
You need a lot of ammo to shoot down incoming mortars and such, and that means endurance. Maybe a metal storm would take out 1 target then be spent, and you’d have to send it back to the factory to be reloaded, what nonsense.
Metal storm is basically an overglorified big shotgun.
>A.Nony, the article stated that rounds which don’t impact their targets are fused to explode.
What do you think will happen to the fragments of the rounds after the explosion?
Need one on our US Mex border alone.
Deter any funny narcodealings.
Just 10 sec burst & Illegals Gone IE killed or Ran away\.
Nice hidden or mobile Gun.
Terror Tech use.
Need 10 on US Mex border area.
Camoflouged for use during day.
Use counter battery fire and get the hole enchilada.
Self-exploding rounds, the rounds are set to detonate next to the target so even though the locals might get a light shower of lead, the rounds would not continue down-range and cause carnage.