C-RAM IS A BARRAGE OF DEADLY BULLETS

Counter rocket, artillery, and mortar, abbreviated C-RAM or counter-RAM, is a set of systems used to detect and/or destroy incoming rockets, artillery, and mortar rounds in the air before they hit their ground targets, or simply provide early warning.

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.