Ukraine invited the C-RAM air defense system to the USA – highly effective short-range automatic systems against Iranian drones and not only
ABC news became aware of a letter from Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk to the US Congress with a request to provide Ukraine with C-RAM air defense systems to combat Iranian drones in order to protect power plants and other important facilities. The letter also contains a request to provide longer-range missiles to destroy drone stocks deep behind enemy lines in Ukraine.
C-RAM (Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar) – tactical air defense systems capable of repelling rocket, artillery and mortar attacks, as well as other means of remote destruction. There are many modifications of such systems that originally came to the land landing gear from the fleet (CIWS) and have been significantly modernized.
The installation includes a radar, an optical thermal imaging module and a six-barreled 20 mm gun with a high rate of fire – 4,500 rounds per minute (Centurion C-RAM model). The system is able to work fully automatically – it captures and follows the target, calculates possible errors and corrections to determine the optimal time and direction, opens fire or suggests it to the operator.
The publication Defense Express notes the small effective range of the impression – only 1.5 km (for comparison, the effective range of the “Cheetahs” is 5.5 km). The maximum range is 5.5 km. However, at close range and in the hands of skilled fighters, the C-RAM can be highly effective – especially against slower targets such as attack drones
As a matter of principle, the Pentagon did not disclose the details of Ukraine’s request – earlier the agency noted that it is focused on meeting Ukraine’s needs in accordance with the situation at the front and “works around the clock, delivering weapons from US stockpiles when they become available.”
