"Check the oil, rotate the tires, and replace the belt feed pawl."
Posted on 06/05/2007 3:29:54 AM PDT by gridlock
BRITISH soldiers in Iraq are to be protected by a supergun that can shoot down rockets and mortar bombs in mid-air, it emerged yesterday.
The US-made gun, called Phalanx, was originally built for warships to target Exocet missiles.
But the Army is secretly getting a truck-mounted version for use in Iraq.
The £9million radar-guided system is fully automatic with radar that can detect incoming hostile fire within three seconds. It then pours out a stream of 20mm shells at the rate of 70 a second.
There is no human operator or aimer inside the gun’s armour plating.
The weapon is so accurate and the rate of fire is so fast that incoming bombs and rockets are shredded.
Any shells that miss their target will self-destruct, to avoid collateral damage to surrounding areas.
The Ministry of Defence is buying the system as an “urgent operational requirement” from US firm Raytheon.
It means the money will come from the Government’s contingency fund rather than the cash-strapped MoD.
A CIWS (Close In Weapons System)?!
Jeez! The Gunner’s Mates on my ship called these things:
Crap
It
Won’t
Shoot
"Check the oil, rotate the tires, and replace the belt feed pawl."
The thing works great in “Battlefield 2”
Is it raining dear?
Just some scattered 20 mm shells.
That pic reminds me of the Rebel Base on Hoth...
Where has this guy been?
Yeah I’m sure the writer doesn’t really have much knowledge in these things. A friend of mine works on the naval ones and he likes watching it in action.
I too was contemplating the thousands of rounds of 20mm shells coming back to earth.
Unfortunately the Brits do not use the ones they have in Iraq..except for warnings of incoming.
They are afraid of civilian casualities if the fire at mortar rounds. Some of the 20mm would land in civilian territory without exploding in the air.
So everyone just uses it to take cover..
Do you think Israel is interested?
Can't wait for the hand-held model to come out...
It has a name in the Army: Vulcan. I had four in my platoon in the late 70s in Germany. It was an Air Defense Artillery weapon designed as the last effort to shoot down airplanes if all else failed. It was mounted on an M113 chasis, the old APC, but also came in a towed version. It would fire 3000 rounds a minute of 20MM. It was not radar guided at the time but may be now with improved technology.
I have often said it would be a great convoy protection weapon in Iraq, the bad guys wouldnt mess with it too many times before they learned it makes hamburger out of the enemy.
It even makes Julienne Fries!
from the article
Any shells that miss their target will self-destruct, to avoid collateral damage to surrounding areas.
“Supergun the shreds missiles”
“It even makes Julienne Fries!”
Operators are standing by to take your order now! And, if you order in the next fifteen minutes, we’ll throw in a Humvee!
Both for just 19.99 million.
We take all major credit cards.
What makes sense in a naval environment might not make sense in an urban environment. For instance, a complicated piece of equipment like this might be subject to damage from small arms fire, which would not be an issue on a ship.
I suspect this thing is going to be the “Beam Me Up, Scotty” weapon. When everything is completely going to Hell, you press the Red Button and duck!
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