U.S Marine corps High mobility C-RAM system

[chrisonord]

Not wanting to be left out after seeing the U.S Army's C-RAM system, The Marine corps powers that be put forward the need for such a system. Said system had to be highly mobile and able to travel and keep up with armoured divisions and be of a more compact design. The Armies version is on a large flat bed trailer and is a very cumbersome set up to move around, so after looking into potential donor vehicles and dismissing the cost of designing a brand new vehicle from scratch, the decision was made to put the system on two vehicles, derived from existing platforms already available. Two M1 Abrams were taken from storage, both were re-engined with diesel power plants, as the gas turbine would not be suitable to use as generator for the electronics as well as drive the vehicles. Rubber tracks were fitted to the prototypes, as they envisaged the system being used in an urban environment. The tracking and target recognition vehicle was the biggest problem to get around as it needed to have a crew of at least five, driver, co driver and 3 electronics officers. Also a lot of hardware had to be jammed into the vehicle, this made the vehicle taller and physically bigger than first envisaged. The Gun system had its own radar, and also had the capability to shoot down larger aircraft with its Aim-9 derived missiles,four of which were in a box mounted opposite the 25 mm 6 barrel gun. The tracking vehicle has a 360 degree radar, thermal, infa red and high resolution optical tracking and recognition sensors, and works in unison with the gun/missile system. The radar vehicle finds the target, and transfers coordinates to the gun/missile system via a split second data link. The vehicles do this wireless but can be linked via fibre optic if the possibility of compromise is present.
A name is yet to be given to this system as it is still in a prototype stage, but all tests so far have been favourable.








Cheers,
Chris   

[kerick]

You've been busy! Nice concepts.

[Weaver]

Nice one - makes sense. 

[zenrat]

Counter Rocket, Artillery & Projectile?
Or is that too obvious?

Good job.

[chrisonord]

That's the one Fred, forgot to mention they are in 1/72nd scale, and made from 2 M1 Abrams kits Army of one sent to me.
Cheers.
Chris.

[Captain Canada]

....and the hits keep coming ! lol. Love the camo. The one looks very futuristic, almost like a space tank ( aside from the colours ) Nice to see them together, she's huge !

[chrisonord]

....and the hits keep coming ! lol. Love the camo. The one looks very futuristic, almost like a space tank ( aside from the colours ) Nice to see them together, she's huge !

It did come out a lot bigger than I wanted but, when you are cramming a lot of gear in to one vehicle, and the necessary crew, something has to give, I have a few more ideas involving tank hulls bouncing around the grey stuff, and a self designed scratch build armoured car too.
Chris