Army explores future of remote control weapons.

The unenviable job of gunners manning weapons atop vehicles may become passe, as the Army tests and fields new versions of remote-controlled guns.

The Commonly Remotely Operated Weapon Station has already been fielded with military police units in Iraq. Army officials told National Defense that the program is expanding to include lighter versions, called CROWS-Lightning, for trucks and other vehicles that cannot handle the heavier system.

This summer, versions of CROWS-Lightning will head to the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. for testing, and in early 2006 will arrive in Iraq for field tests, said Col. Mike Smith, project manager for soldier weapons.

While the portion of the original system located above a vehicle's roofline weighs 395 pounds, the equivalent part of CROWS-Lightning is about 175 pounds. A certain amount of mass is necessary to absorb the guns' recoil, Smith said.

The lightweight versions are currently being tested on Humvees, but potential exists for its use on various other vehicles, including armored recovery vehicles and the Future Tactical Truck System. To reduce the logistics footprint and make maintenance easier, the same mounting and many of the same parts of application kits will be used.

CROWS sits on two-axis stabilized mounts with 360-degree range. In case of a breakdown, soldiers can operate the weapon manually. Officials from the soldier weapons project manger's office said that the system is being considered for use in base protection--mounted on a rooftop or covering a checkpoint, for example.

An often-unheralded strength of the CROWS family is its software, explained Lt. Col. Kevin Stoddard, product manager of crew-served weapons.

For example, a mapping program allows the systems to be moved from one vehicle to another, taking into account different profiles. The software's 'no fire' areas are defined so that operators cannot accidentally shoot off parts of their own vehicles when they mount CROWS on another platform.

That concept can also be expanded to include no fire zones in the immediate environment. Even while moving, CROWS can be programmed not to shoot within programmable parameters. Set to a surveillance mode, CROWS' optical sensors can peer at one target at a time without direct soldier control.

"The system is software-intensive as well as mechanical," Stoddard said. "It's a big part of this program."

The sensor suite includes daytime video, forward-looking infrared and a laser rangefinder. The heavy version supports the MK19 grenade machine gun, .50 caliber M2 machine gun, M249 semi automatic weapon and M240B machine gun.

More weaponry changes are underway, according to military researchers. "We're absolutely looking at future weapons," Smith said.

Plans include incorporating the XM307 lightweight grenade launcher into the CROWS family. The XM307 fires air-bursting grenades and armor-piercing ammunition. The XM312 .50-caliber machine gun also is being examined for use--the low recoil of these new guns can bring heavy firepower to CROWS-Lightning, Stoddard said.

Both CROWS systems share a drawback in keeping soldiers buttoned up inside a vehicle. While protected, "you also took away their situational awareness," noted Anthony Sebasto, associate senior technical director at the Army Armaments Research, Development and Engineering Center.

To counter this, ARDEC is testing acoustic sensors, similar to ones used in Iraq and Afghanistan to locate snipers by the sound of their gunshots. Four sensors, manufactured by AAI Corp., will be placed on the vehicle to increase the crew's ability to locate and respond to threats. Preliminary testing is expected to begin before the year's end, Stoddard said.

As an urgent requirement, the CROWS concept was fast tracked. It went from a test program to a deployed system in just 15 months. "The open architecture of the design allowed fabrication while testing was ongoing," Smith said. He added that field trials, while helpful, could not replace the battery of other operational and developmental testing in laboratory conditions. Training on CROWS in Iraq began in March and will continue through fiscal year 2006, he said.

For any system, a maintenance and training strategy must be in place for the equipment to be of real value, Stoddard said. "Even with an urgent material release, you can't walk away from these basic principles," he noted.

Most of the CROWS familiarization has been done in Iraq, with a recent effort at the battalion and brigade levels to teach master gunners how to train others on the system.

In July, a traveling team from Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., began visiting soldiers before they deployed to train them on the CROWS, Stoddard said. By 2006, CROWS systems will be donated to military police training schools and ordinance maintenance centers for further training.

While attending a recent armaments conference, Smith told the crowd he was going to "pimp my program." To do so, he described some feedback from the military police units using the system in Iraq.

"They came up with many ways to use the CROWS systems in ways we never thought of," he said. "They help our soldiers detect improvised explosive devices before they trip them, and spot ambushes."

By using the zoom on the gun's video system, soldiers can get close looks at suspicious activity, items or locations without exposing themselves. And if bullets start flying, that same camera can direct a stream of .50 caliber rounds.

Smith described examples of CROWS in action against insurgents in Iraq. A letter from a staff sergeant with the 269th Military Police Company spoke of the elimination of an insurgent aiming a rocket-propelled grenade at his vehicle at 600 meters.

"The sheer presence of the system is intimidating, and feared by the enemy," Smith quoted from the letter.