#shorts #cram #CounterRocketArtilleryMortar

This barrage of deadly bullets comes from C-RAM. It is a land-based Phalanx Weapon System developed by Raytheon to Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar shells. It uses a multitude of advanced sensors and systems such as Ku-Band radar, forward looking infrared, sophisticated thermal imaging and computer systems to automatically search, track, make kill assessment, prioritize, and lock a target in only 5 seconds. It has a 6-barrel, 20 mm Vulcan Gatling cannon that fires at 4,500 rounds per minute to destroy incoming targets within a 1000-meter effective range.

C-RAM can be mounted on a trailer or the rear-side of the Oshkosh truck for mobility. The first C-RAM was deployed in Baghdad in 2010 in order to protect the Green Zone which is where the American embassy resides. It could successfully destroy 70 to 80% of the incoming rockets and mortars, thereby proving its capacity as a defensive system.

Each C-RAM costs 10 to 15 million dollars, but with such massive firing rate, it comes at an operational cost of 30 to 60 thousand dollars to engage a single target.