CROWS

The Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) is a series of remote weapon stations used by the US military on its armored vehicles and ships. It allows weapon operators to engage targets without leaving the protection of their vehicle. The US military has fielded both the M101 CROWS and M153 CROWS II systems.

For other uses, see Crow (disambiguation).
"M153" redirects here. For USA Road, see M-153. For Cape Town Road, see M153 (Cape Town).

Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) mounted with M2 Browning .50 Caliber Machine Gun fitted with a blank firing adapter.

System overview
An RG-33 convoy with CROWS remote weapons stations attached.

The CROWS system provides an operator with the ability to acquire and engage targets while inside a vehicle, protected by its armor. It is designed to mount on a variety of vehicle platforms and supports the Mk 19 grenade launcher, 12.7 mm M2 .50 Caliber Machine Gun, 7.62 mm M240B Machine Gun, and 5.56 mm M249 Squad Automatic Weapon. The system is composed of two parts: the mount which is fixed to the exterior of the vehicle and the control group. The mount is capable of 360° rotation and −20° to +60° elevation and is gyro-stabilized.[1] The sight package includes a daylight video camera, a thermal camera and an eye-safe laser rangefinder. It is also furnished with a fully integrated fire control system that provides ballistic correction.[2] The weight of the weapon station varies accordingly due to different armament modules: 74 kg (163 lb) light, 135 kg (298 lb) standard (including the naval version), and 172 kg (379 lb) for CROWS II.

The control group mounts inside the vehicle (behind the driver's seat on the Humvee). It includes a display, switches and joystick to provide full remote control of the weapon system. This enables the fighting crew to operate from inside armored combat vehicles, while still maintaining the ability to acquire and engage targets.[3] Its camera systems can identify targets out to 1,500 m away, and the mount's absorption of about 85% of weapon recoil delivers an estimated 95% accuracy rate, as well as the ability to track targets moving 25 mph (40 km/h). Large ammunition boxes enable for sustained firing periods, carrying 96 rounds for the Mk 19, 400 rounds for the M2, 1,000 rounds for the M240B, and 1,600 rounds for the M249. Each CROWS costs $190,000.[4]

Variants

M101 CROWS

The first supplier for the CROWS program was Recon Optical (Barrington, IL) with their RAVEN SRWS Archived 26 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine product.[5] As part of the first CROWS contract, the Recon Optical RAVEN R-400 RWS were fielded in 2004 in Iraq, employed by special forces, military police, infantry and transport units.

M153 CROWS II
Soldier posing with an M153
The USCGC Sea Devil (WPB-87368) mounts a Sea PROTECTOR MK50 with an M2 Browning .50 Caliber Machine Gun.

After an open solicitation Kongsberg Protech Systems (Kongsberg Gruppen, Norway and Johnstown, PA) won the CROWS II contract with a variant of their M151 PROTECTOR, which is also used on the Stryker M1126 Infantry Carrier Vehicle.[6][7] Kongsberg received a framework contract of more than US$1 billion for the delivery of up to 6,500 CROWS systems to the US Army and a first purchase order exceeding US$300 million[8] As of October 2009, the framework contract has been almost completely converted to fixed contracts.[9] At the very end of 2009 the agreement was extended to include 10,349 systems.[10]

Between the M151 and M153 variants KONGSBERG has delivered more than 18,000 systems to the U.S. Armed Services. These systems are in-service within every branch of the U.S. military and many US agencies.[11] It is employed in various versions of the Humvee, Buffalo MRVs, RG-31 Nyalas, RG-33s, the Army's M1126 Stryker APC, and was soon integrated into the Oshkosh M-ATV, JERRV, Caiman, and MaxxPro.[1]

Sea PROTECTOR MK50

A nautical version of the CROWS II weapons system has been developed and deployed by the U.S. Navy on its Mark VI patrol boats .[12][13][14][15] It allows vessels to engage speedboats piloted by suicide bombers at longer ranges. Gyrostablization is particularly important for a weapon carried by a small vessel being buffeted by waves when traveling at high speed. In Navy service, the CROWS II is referred to as the "MK50 Gun Weapon System (GWS)."[16]

CROWS-J

In May 2018, Stryker ICVs of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment deployed to Europe to test the CROWS-Javelin, a version of the M153 turret fitted with an FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile tube. This enables the vehicle gunner to detect and destroy heavy armor out to 3 km (1.9 mi) without requiring a soldier to dismount. The Army plans to up-gun all its Stryker brigades by adding a 30 mm cannon to half of the ICVs in rifle and scout platoons while adding the CROWS-J to the other half, roughly 80 vehicles with each per brigade.[17][18][19][20]

CROWS III

By September 2013, the U.S. Army had over 8,000 CROWS systems in use. The new CROWS III incorporates a laser dazzler to temporarily blind suspicious individuals rather than needing to open fire, additional cameras on the side and rear of the turret to expand situational awareness without rotating the turret, and an infrared laser pointer to paint objects at night. The larger version of CROWS is equipped with a Javelin missile launcher.[21]

References
  1. Fuller, BG Peter N.; COL Douglas A. Tamilio (18 May 2010). "Project Manager Soldier Weapons Briefing for NDIA" (PDF). PEO Soldier. United States Army. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 November 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
  2. John Pike (19 November 2005). "XM101 Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS)". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
  3. Staff Sgt. Kristina Barrett. "CROWS gets Airmen out of the turret". Af.mil. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
  4. Weapon system moves Reserve gunners to the safety of the backseat - Army.mil, 30 January 2017
  5. Crows Archived 11 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "fbodaily.com". fbodaily.com. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
  7. "U.S. GAO – B-310436; B-310436.2, Recon Optical, Inc., December 27, 2007". Gao.gov. Archived from the original on 4 November 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
  8. "Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace". Kongsberg.com. Archived from the original on 11 February 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
  9. "defpro.com". defpro.com. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
  10. "Increased scope of CROWS II framework agreement". Kongsberg.com. 22 August 2007. Archived from the original on 11 March 2011. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
  11. "U.S. ARMY AWARDS USD 1.498 BILLION IDIQ CROWS CONTRACT TO KONGSBERG". Kongsberg.com. 31 October 2022.
  12. Chuck Hill (2 July 2014). "Precision Machine Guns?". Chuck Hill's blog. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  13. "The Sea PROTECTOR MK50 supporting the U. S. Navy". Kongsberg. Archived from the original on 26 April 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  14. "The Sea Protector MK50 Supporting the U. S. Navy". Defense Aerospace News. 11 September 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2018. In April 2013, the U.S. Navy announced the order of a marinized version of the M153 Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) from Kongsberg Protech Systems to fulfill requirements for its remotely operated Stabilized Small Arms Mount (SSAM) weapon systems program.
  15. "Sea PROTECTOR MK50 supporting the U. S. Navy". Sea Waves magazine. 12 September 2013. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018. The Sea PROTECTOR MK50 has been undergoing testing this fall and features the latest technology from KONGSBERG, such as the VIS95 day camera providing enhanced situational awareness, as well as compatibility for an array of ammunition and weapons.
  16. Army, Navy link up for sophisticated weapon install - Army.mil, 4 December 2015
  17. New Stryker armored with CROWS-J Javelin missile turret for US troops in Europe. Army Recognition. 4 September 2018.
  18. Army wants a new remote operating system for its ground combat vehicle cannons. Army Times. 8 March 2019.
  19. Army Details Plan to Equip Stryker Infantry Carriers with Tank-Killing Missiles. Military.com. 24 September 2019.
  20. Battle group in Poland is the only Army unit to use 'upgunned' Strykers. Stars and Stripes. 11 June 2020.
  21. The Relentless Terminator - Strategypage.com, 12 September 2013
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