Video: Goalkeeper CIWS Gun System

[getl0st]

http://www.liveleak.com/player.swf?autostart=false&token=9932cbec9a

Without Sound - Short

http://www.youtube.com/v/eZBFSGzRyV4

With Sound - Longer

Sweet 30mm Gun System. Fired the last production unit last week at the range.

[kiddnplay]

You know, they have one of these systems on the Balad Airbase in Iraq. They used it only once, because they fired it at an incoming rocket and the excess rounds landed in a village, damaging buildings and the surrounding area just outside the base. We ended up paying for all the damages, and as far as I know, we have not used the system since. It definitely needs some refinement.

[Canuck Farrier]

very nice thanks.!

[erazer76]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZBFSGzRyV4

with sound

[Niels]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZBFSGzRyV4

with sound
http://www.youtube.com/v/eZBFSGzRyV4


Awesome.

[erazer76]

thanx

looks better now!

[Eggy]

Too bad the sound is missing in the first vid, that is the good part about that gun. (same as A10 right?) And what is up with the football clips in that vid Niels? Great vid though that second exocet got really close.


You know, they have one of these systems on the Balad Airbase in Iraq. They used it only once, because they fired it at an incoming rocket and the excess rounds landed in a village, damaging buildings and the surrounding area just outside the base. We ended up paying for all the damages, and as far as I know, we have not used the system since. It definitely needs some refinement.
I think it has more to do with the task it was used for. It's a close in weapon system as a last defense on ships that usually do not have any villages nearby them. :p

[erazer76]

And what is up with the football clips in that vid Niels?

dont see the link?
goalkeeper?
its a promovid from thales
this goalkeeper is better then a football goalkeeper

[Niels]

You know, they have one of these systems on the Balad Airbase in Iraq. They used it only once, because they fired it at an incoming rocket and the excess rounds landed in a village, damaging buildings and the surrounding area just outside the base. We ended up paying for all the damages, and as far as I know, we have not used the system since. It definitely needs some refinement.
You sure that wasn't a Phalanx?

Too bad the sound is missing in the first vid, that is the good part about that gun. (same as A10 right?) And what is up with the football clips in that vid Niels? Great vid though that second exocet got really close.
No idea, it's erazer's vid, I just embedded it. The same GAU-8 cannon is used on the A-10, yeah.

[erazer76]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goalkeeper_CIWS
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=97889

[jetsetter]

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/5343/cms0105572013zr.jpg
http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/4236/cms010557202a2ff.jpg

The ground based Phalanx system or "C-RAM" uses the HEIT-SD (High-Explosive Incendiary Tracer, Self-Destruct) ammunition originally developed for the M163 Vulcan air-defense system. These rounds explode on impact with the target, or upon tracer burnout. With a reliability of between 95 and 99 percent the odds of live rounds falling on "friendlies" is minimal.

[sferrin]

Yep the Phalanx is what they've got a Balad. I was reading recently (within the last week or so) that the US Army has ordered more of them.

[donx2]

They're actually putting these in at all major installations in Iraq now. They're sending a crapload of Navy guys over there to get them all up and running. From what I've been told, these systems have worked very well and will be deployed in arrays to knock out incoming mortar rounds.

-Don

[jetsetter]

http://www.liveleak.com/player.swf?autostart=false&token=9880e7d9e5


The U.S. Army has seen rocket and mortar casualty rates drop “to nearly zero” where its Counter-Rocket, Artillery, Mortar Program (C-RAM) system has been deployed, said the manufacturer, and now the service plans to buy more.
Northrop Grumman’s Tactical Systems Division received a $71 million follow-on contract Jan. 16 to continue systems engineering, integration and installation for the C-RAM program. Deployed last year in Iraq and elsewhere, the system uses sensors and radar to spot and track incoming mortar rounds and rockets. It warns U.S. and coalition troops about the incoming rounds and provides data to defensive weapons that can take shots at the enemy fire. The announcement was made at a press conference sponsored by the Los Angeles-based defense contractor.
“In the past, force protection was done with guns and people,” while C-RAM uses sensors, said Pat Camacho, director of Northrop Grumman’s force protection unit.
Army spokesman Timothy Rider said the C-RAM had “successfully responded to RAM attacks directed at personnel in a U.S. base in Iraq by intercepting/destroying incoming rounds and by providing a capability that contributes to rapid and successful counterattacks and response options such as tracking and apprehending the enemy forces.”
In a presentation, Camacho said the firm developed the command and control systems for C-RAM, and was also the systems installer, providing systems engineering support. The firm designed and built the C-RAM systems and installed them at forward operational bases, and provided integrated logistics support there.
The C-RAM can detect a weapon firing “tens of kilometers” away, and quickly figure out where the munition will land, Camacho said.
He said Air Force and Marine Corps officials are considering buying the system.
“It really says we’ve got a mission to accomplish out there,” Camacho said of the contract follow-on, which will triple the Army’s original $38 million investment.
The contract is managed by the Army’s program executive officer for Command, Control and Communications Tactical, with contracting handled by the Army Aviation and Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
Northrop Grumman is basing the C-RAM work in Huntsville, Ala., and said it will be finished in September.

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=2486793&C=airwar



A common tactic of the insurgents in Iraq is to set up a mortar (often in a residential neighborhood), quickly pop off a few rounds at an unsuspecting US or Iraqi military base, and then get out of the area before any response can be made. Next to IEDs, mortar attacks are probably the most common threat faced by most American troops not actively involved in combat. Although most mortar rounds explode harmlessly, plenty of damage and many casualties have been caused by lucky shots.

Since the attackers are often making their getaway even as the first rounds start landing, it's very difficult to send a team of soldiers to apprehend (or kill) them even if the source location can be determined. And since the insurgents prefer to fire from built-up areas thick with civilians, a simple artillery barrage isn't an option. Mortars are small and fairly easy to use, which means that large numbers of operators are available and they can pretty much come and go as they please.

A number of things have been tried to counter-act the mortar threat. The AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder Weapon Locating System, originally designed to track incoming artillery rounds from long range, simply wasn't up to the job of picking up mortar rounds and calculating the firing location.

About the same time as that article appeared, another appeared on USMC.mil about a new system, the Lightweight Counter Mortar Radar, that was being tried out in Iraq with some success. The LCMR is used to track incoming rounds and feed target data to counter-fire units.

Getting back at those firing on you is all well and good, of course. But it doesn't stop the incoming rounds from harming you or your installation. And, as noted, the insurgents prefer to fire from the relative safety of civilian neighborhoods. They've learned that American counter-fire is quick and deadly, and the mortar teams that have survived have adapted their tactics to negate American firepower. So the military is working hard to find a way to shoot down incoming rounds.

Since laser defenses are still quite a way off, the Army has looked to an existing system to fill the need. The Navy's Phalanx CIWS system, an autonomous 20mm gatling gun capable of firing up to 4,500 rounds per minute, has been modified to defend ground units.

Known as "R2-D2" to Navy personnel, the Army is hoping to use these droids to defend bases. The program is called C-RAM, short for "counter rocket artillery mortar" system, and two test units arrived in Iraq last month.

R2-D2 is merely part of an integrated system. The previously-mentioned LCMR and the AN/TPQ-36 Target Acquisition Radar, the AN/TPQ-37's shorter-range brother, feed information on incoming rounds into R2-D2 and it opens up in an attempt to shoot them down. At the same time, a Hunter UAV is dispatched to the calculated firing position in an attempt to attack the attackers with laser-guided Viper Strike missiles or at least track them so they can be intercepted by ground forces.

The naval Phalanx systems fire depleted uranium or (more recently) tungsten armor-piercing rounds. On the high seas, all these heavy rounds falling to the surface aren't much of a problem. But in crowded urban environments this would present a very serious danger to friendly forces and civilians. So instead of using the AP ammunition, the C-RAM uses the HEIT-SD (High-Explosive Incendiary Tracer, Self-Destruct) ammunition originally developed for the M163 Vulcan air-defense system. These rounds explode in mid-air, raining shrapnel at the incoming rounds in order to destroy or deflect them.

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001623.html

[Eggy]

The ground based Phalanx system or "C-RAM" uses the HEIT-SD (High-Explosive Incendiary Tracer, Self-Destruct) ammunition originally developed for the M163 Vulcan air-defense system. These rounds explode on impact with the target, or upon tracer burnout. With a reliability of between 95 and 99 percent the odds of live rounds falling on "friendlies" is minimal.
Sounds really cool and usefull in that case.

[getl0st]

In appropriate areas, they should also have automatic return Mortar fire