The Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station 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.
System overview
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-degree rotation and −20 to +60 degree elevation and is gyro-stabilized. 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. The weight of the weapon station varies accordingly due to different armament modules: light, standard, and for CROWS II. The control group mounts inside the vehicle. 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. Its camera systems can identify targets out to 1,500 meters 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. 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.
Variants
M101 CROWS
The first supplier for the CROWS program was Recon Optical with their RAVEN SRWS product. 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
After an open solicitation Kongsberg Protech Systems won the CROWS II contract with a variant of their M151 PROTECTOR, which is also used on the StrykerM1126 Infantry Carrier Vehicle. 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 As of October 2009, the framework contract has been almost completely converted to fixed contracts. At the very end of 2009 the agreement was extended to include 10,349 systems. More than a thousand M153 CROWS II systems are in use. It has been employed on M1 Abramsmain battle tanks, 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.
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. 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."
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 an FGM-148 Javelin missile launcher. Even though Kongsberg Gruppen enjoyed record profits during this time, by terminating the contracts of several employees from these divisions.
