Half a year after receiving the first four Mobile Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) systems, the US Army’s 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, completed the first live-fire of the system in Europe.
The week-long training took place at the Putlos Bundeswehr range on the Baltic Sea coast of Germany, with the live-fire event taking place on October 7.
The purpose of the week’s training was to demonstrate the capabilities of the M-SHORAD Stryker. Members of 3rd Platoon, Alpha Battery engaged ground targets with the 7.62mm machine gun and aerial drone targets with three Stinger missiles.
1st Lt. Kelsey Krauss, from Randolph, New Jersey, is the Army’s first M-SHORAD Stryker platoon leader.
“The demonstration went perfect I am so proud of my soldiers,” said Krauss. “They were confident, knowledgeable, they asked questions when they needed to; they really knew their job and they came out here and they killed it.”
The Alpha Battery commander, Capt. Connor Knapp, agreed with his lieutenant’s assessment.
“I think today went fantastic, we learned a lot and we showed the capability of the M-SHORAD system. With SHORAD in general, our job is to protect the maneuver force, and being on the Stryker platform gives us that key capability to move with them wherever they go and protect from enemy rotary and fixed-wing attack.”
The M-SHORAD, which integrates existing guns, missiles, rockets and sensors onto a Stryker A1 vehicle, is the army’s newest addition in a variety of modernization efforts. The system is designed to defend maneuvering forces against unmanned aircraft systems, rotary-wing and residual fixed-wing threats.
Some of the soldiers from 3rd Platoon participated in the initial testing of M-SHORAD at White Sands, New Mexico, but this was the first time live firing M-SHORAD for many Alpha Battery soldiers.
M-SHORAD gunner Spc. Lilly Allen commented, “this week has been exciting, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. The Stinger was amazing! I think the Stryker platform overall is one of the best things we could have added to ADA. The maneuverability, the capabilities, everything about it definitely gives our branch an upper hand.”
The next big exercise for the M-SHORAD will be Saber Strike 22 this winter. Exercise Saber Strike is an annual combined-joint exercise conducted at various locations throughout Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. The combined training prepares allies and partners to respond more to regional crises and meet their own security needs by improving the security of borders and countering threats.
