Kongsberg Protech Systems‘ Protector CROWS remote weapon systems (RWS) is adding capabilities to increase the missions the system can do beyond its primary role of protecting of soldiers under armor while they fire a weapon, company officials said.
CROWS provides safety and survivability for soldiers who no longer needed to be exposed in a hatch to fire weapons.
“What I foresee for the future, the number of systems will decrease because you won’t have the number of requirements from the theater any more but still we have 11,000 systems out there–and they’re easy to upgrade,” said Rune Johannessen, executive vice president marketing and sales United States. Kongsberg Protech Systems Protector CROWS is a unit of Norway’s Kongsberg Gruppen.
“CROWS is very modular and flexible the way it’s built (and has open architecture),” he said. “I think we will see more of the add-ons in the future. They have already test-fired the Stinger missile from the weapon system. That suddenly gives you air-defense capability.”
The Stinger missile may be old, but there are a huge number of them in the military inventory.
Further developments include closer integration with additional systems, command and control, battle management and communication devices–our system is prepared to handle them,” Johannessen said. “We are working on that as well, to try to be ahead.”
Another potential addition to CROWS would be the Javelin fire-and-forget anti-tank missile, which has been integrated on CROWS with only a minor modification, providing a measure of self-defense for vehicles that did not have it before.
An uncertain future also considers a range of threats, so Kongsberg is working on an escalation of force suite that integrates non-lethal weapons.
“We have taken what they have fielded to hand held devices–a bright white light on the top and a green dazzler laser and put them on CROWS, as well as an acoustic (Long Range Acoustic Device) LRAD device,” Johannessen said. “This means you can do a number of operations on a road block for instance, and be under-armor, not having to approach the vehicle, you can speak to them, play prerecorded messages, blind them, and dazzle them through the LRAD.”
Essentially, Johannessen said he envisions a future where the weapons station is somewhat like an iPhone, with Apps that could be added for the weapon station.
Right now, controls could be displayed on a phone, but security is an issue, he said. Perhaps in the future, the system could be controlled by a phone or similar device.
Another future capability is the 360 degree camera, added to improve situational awareness, he said. With the 360 degree camera, the gun doesn’t have to be pointed where the troops are actually looking. It’s totally integrated as an App on the weapon station.