Fort Carson-based 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, recently became the first ground combat force in the US Army to fire a FGM-148 Javelin using the Common Remote Weapon Station-Javelin (CROWS-J) system from a Stryker.
The live-fire event on April 28 made the WarHorse Brigade “the most lethal formation in the US Army,” the service said as it released footage of the event.
The CROWS-J is a stabilized mount that contains a sensor suite and fire control software, allowing on-the-move target reference points, programmable target reference points, programmable sector surveillance scanning, automatic target racking and programmable no-fire zones.
WarHorse Brigade achieved the milestone some two months after it began receiving Strykers vehicles with CROWS-J stabilized mounts in February this year.
The fielding of the new system, which replaces the remote weapon station, is part of a larger effort to give Strykers more lethal capabilities.
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.
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.
