CROWS surge to Afghanistan along with troops: "With the surge to Afghanistan now underway, thousands of XM-153 Common Remotely Operated Weapons Stations, known as CROWS, will soon be taking flight to strengthen U.S. Army forces in theater.
Program Executive Office Soldier is ramping up its stateside logistics efforts and is in the process of establishing three new CROWS support sites in Afghanistan. The sites -- under PEO Soldier 's Project Manager for Soldier Weapons -- will manage the fielding, training, and sustainment of the XM-153 CROWS.
The CROWS systems mount what is essentially a small turret on top of Army combat vehicles that provides Soldiers the ability to employ their machine guns while using a control grip and video monitor from inside the protection of an armored vehicle. There are currently about 1,000 CROWS systems already in use in Iraq and Afghanistan.
'We are embedding the new CROWS support sites with units that are farther afield to enhance our support of the warfighter,' said Lt. Col. Michael Ascura, product manager for crew-served weapons. 'We fielded one new site in December and will bring two more online by April in Afghanistan.'
The complexity of the fielding is magnified by the sheer number of military vehicles and vehicle variants that are now employing CROWS; including MRAPS, Humvees, route clearance vehicles, the new MRAP All-Terrain Vehicles or MATVs, and others."
