Ohio's 1st Battalion, 174th Air Defense Artillery Regiment battalion, is the first National Guard battalion entrusted with a lifesaving counter-rocket, artillery and mortar mission here.
The Counter-Rocket, Artillery and Mortar weapon system mission has been an Active Duty mission: Joint Task Force 1st Battalion, 174th C-RAM employs the first National Guard battalion in Iraq to assume the C-RAM responsibilities.
"This is one of the proudest moments of my life, being in command of Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, and one of the key members of the first National Guard battalion-sized units to be entrusted with the C-RAM mission," said Captain Lawrence Bogan, commander, HHB, JTF 1-174th C-RAM.
The 1st Battalion, 174th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, is an Ohio National Guard unit based in Woodlawn, a suburb of Cincinnati.
"I didn't know this was the capacity that I would be doing it in, but helping people and saving lives is exactly what we were meant to do," Bogan said. "We are proud to be a part of this task force, represent the 174th ADA Brigade and our great state of Ohio for the opportunity to perform this C-RAM mission—very proud."
An insurgent spends days scouting the spot. He moves at night so his actions are cloaked by darkness. He emplaces the payload he has spent countless hours preparing. Everything is in place. He lights the mortar—directed right at a U.S. military forward operating base.
As the rocket or mortar hurdles toward the compound, a C-RAM weapon system sounds the early warning and lights up the sky. Within seconds, the mortar is destroyed. The insurgent won't be taking any lives tonight—not on the watch of JTF 1-174th C-RAM.
Army and Navy personnel with JTF 1-174th C-RAM, United States Forces—Iraq operate and maintain multiple C-RAM systems across Iraq, ensuring the safety of service members 24 hours a day.
The C-RAM, a land-based version of the Phalanx weapon system equipped on Navy ships to protect vessels from incoming missiles, was first used in 2005 in Iraq.
The Army has adopted the technology and is now using the same idea to protect U.S. bases from threats lobbed over the walls.
"We [have] 20-millimeter rounds that we will fire at a rapid rate in a pretty significant quantity," Bogan explained. "We provide an early warning to alert of incoming indirect fire and then engage, basically shooting down a bullet with another bullet."
When the C-RAM fires it can be heard miles out, and when standing next to it one can feel the ground rumble underfoot. But before the 20 mm rounds can intercept the indirect fire, Soldiers and Sailors must take certain measurements, in a short amount of time, to ensure lives are saved on the base.
"When we get a confirmation of an incoming round, that's when we go into our engagement battle drill," said Staff Sergeant Ryan Osner, noncommissioned officer-in-charge of the engagement operations cell.
"We have to confirm the air space is clear. Once the air space is clear, we send the order to send-fire permit. The gun will track and then the gun will engage. Simultaneously, the warning system will send out the 'incoming call' to [speakers] near the projected point of impact."
Osner said in the beginning, the job was slow and scary, and resulted in quite the adrenaline rush.
"Being able to shoot something down out of the air, with all the technology and gun systems that we have, is awesome," he said.
It's an awesome feeling that two years ago he didn't even know he would experience.
Around January 2009, Task Force 1st Battalion, 174th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, initially received orders to deploy to the U.S. capital, Washington, DC.
The mission required them to work with the Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System and to train on the Avenger missile system, the weapon system the unit is qualified to operate.
Then the change of orders came: In September 2009, the unit received orders to deploy to Iraq to work with the C-RAM weapon system.
"The first question we all asked was, 'What is C-RAM?'" said Lieutenant Colonel Greg Gustafan, commander of JTF 1-174th C-RAM. "That's not an air defense weapon system that any of us have worked with."
The JTF, Navy counterparts included, trained for 90 days at Fort Sill, OK, to learn the C-RAM's capabilities.
Bogan said the transition from Avenger to C-RAM was challenging because it's a completely different weapon system and they have to coordinate with different organizational assets. With the Avenger mission, they would go on their own and perform their mission solo.
Bogan said the Soldiers have adapted well to the change on all levels throughout the training process.
"Everyone, from the moment we have started this, has taken it very seriously, and that has been the piece that has made us the most [successful]," he said. "Everyone has paid very close attention, and they have executed flawlessly to this point."
A Gatling gun is not the only element of the C-RAM system, which is referred to as a "system of systems."
Collectively, the C-RAM is made up of multiple computer and radar systems working together, which connect to the early warning system.
All of those "brains" are tied into the muscle of the machine—the Gatling gun itself. Each system has redundant capability to ensure the overall system is running at all times.
"You have off-the-shelf radar the Army uses in field artillery … designed to pick up rockets and mortars launched at ground level," Gustafan said.
"These, in conjunction with our Air Defense radar systems, allow us to cover the entire third dimension; from very high altitude to the trajectory more common to rockets and mortars at lower launch elevations."
The computer systems can determine the trajectory of the round and predict where it will be at a certain point of the sky and from there, the radars and the Phalanx gun go to work, tracking the round and determining the most effective firing solution, Gustafan said.
The radar, however, picks up more than just rockets, artillery and mortars launched at the base. It detects anything in the sky, which includes helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, blast fragmentation from other sources and gunfire, Gustafan said.
"So what those [radar] operators have to do is be able to discriminate between [what] is on the screen and see what may meet the ballistic criteria to be a potential threat," he said.
Osner said there's a lot of learning involved in this mission, but he's gained a lot of experience along the way.