The US Army’s WarHorse Brigade at Fort Carson, Colorado began fielding and training on the Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station-Javelin (CROWS-J) and the Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) on February 7.
The fielding of the new system, which replaces the remote weapon station, is part of a larger effort to give Strykers more lethal capabilities.
“This modernization enhances our soldiers’ ability to detect, identify and destroy targets and achieve overmatch against peer threats,” said Col. Andrew Kiser, commander of 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.
CROWS is a stabilized mount that contains a sensor suite and fire control software, allowing on-the-move target acquisition and first-burst target engagement. It also features programmable target reference points for multiple locations, programmable sector surveillance scanning, automatic target ballistic lead, automatic target tracking, and programmable no-fire zones.
The CROWS and CROWS-J system also allows for soldiers to engage threats from inside the Stryker, providing a more lethal approach to eliminating threats from a distance.
“It improves crew safety and survivability,” said Sgt. Joshua Carroll, infantryman with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2SBCT, 4th Inf. Div. “We can engage farther than a dismounted javelin.”
The systems include improved visual capabilities, increasing the Stryker’s lethality.
“Including both optics and control of the primary vehicular weapon system, they allow operators to engage targets from inside the vehicle at extreme distance with an increased resolution in the camera feed,” Kiser said.
The WarHorse Brigade began its transition from a light infantry brigade to a Stryker brigade in the summer of 2020 and became fully mission capable as a Stryker brigade in late 2021. These latest upgrades to the brigade’s fleet make it the most modernized in the US Army. The brigade began fielding the upgraded CROWS-J Strykers after the army began retrofits in 2018.
“It makes us the most lethal Stryker brigade in the Army,” Carroll said.
