By Army News Service on Monday, June 10th, 2013
Fort Campbell air warriors remove darkness from Oklahoma sky with C-RAM
A loudspeaker blared “incoming, incoming, incoming” and Soldiers immediately dropped to the bottom. A Counter — Rocket, Artillery and Mortar gun whirred because the weapon system tracked the threat. A four-second burst from the Gatling-type gun filled the air with tracer fire. Then the 300 rounds crackled as they exploded looking like a fireworks show that created a wall of flack which intercepted and destroyed the incoming mortar. The warriors scrambled to their feet and headed toward a bunker.
This was the scene May 26, at Thompson Hill Range here as 60 air defenders from B Battery, 2nd Battalion, 44th Air Defense Artillery, from Fort Campbell, Ky., participated in a Counter — Rocket, Artillery and Mortar, called a C-RAM, live fire. The live fire was portion of their six-week pre-deployment certification to organize them for C-RAM missions at outposts.
“The certification goes smooth. The gang of Soldiers sooner than us took out every target that came toward them,” said Sgt. Orlando Rodriguez, B/2-44th, air and missile defense crewmembers team chief.
Instructors and contractors from D Battery, 2nd Battalion, 6th ADA, at Fort Sill conducted the educational that is something they do about every nine months with deploying ADA units which are given the C-RAM mission, said trainer Sgt. 1st Class Kleber Soriano, D/2-6th ADA, academics section.
During the certification, the Fort Campbell short-range air defenders, who’re a mixture of Avenger missile crewmembers, air defense battle management system operators, and radar repairers, learn the C-RAM weapon system. The educational culminates with about 10 days of live-fire training.
The biggest change from the Avenger system is learning the various procedures utilized by the C-RAM weapon system, Rodriguez said.
Raytheon contractor James Scott said the Avenger and C-RAM use similar electronics, but there’s a different end process.
“It’s almost like going from Microsoft to Apple,” he said.
One of one of the most challenging aspects of the certification is getting the gun crew and the engagement operations cell to speak with one another, Soriano said.
“They ought to discover ways to interact and know what one another does,” he said.
Soriano emphasized that C-RAM is greater than just an electrical four-barrel gun which can fire 75 20mm high explosives rounds per second with a better than 80 percent kill probability of mortar rounds.
Its layered network of counter-mortar radars can detect where mortars and rockets are coming from, he said. Soldiers can perform pattern analysis of the threats. This intelligence may be provided to, say, a forward operating base’s commander, who will then know where the threat is and the way to deal with it.
Spc. Jason Campos, B/2-44th, air and missile defense crewmember, said he was eager for his first deployment, and using the C-RAM.
“After two years and 3 months, it’s really exciting for me,” he said.
Rodriguez said he believes his battery’s presence will certainly make a difference during deployment.
“I’m excited to get available and help protect my team members from this enemy and indirect fire,” Rodriguez said.
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