M1097 Avenger
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The Avenger Air Defense System is a US military weapon system utilized by both the Army and the Marine Corps that provides mobile, short-range air defense protection for ground units against cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, low-flying fixed-wing aircraft, and helicopters.
This is one of the air defense systems placed around the Pentagon in Washington, DC after the September 11 terror attacks. The Avenger system has been in use since 1989.
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[edit] Description and specifications
The system consists of a gyro-stabilized air defense turret mounted on a modified heavy High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV). The turret has two Stinger missile launcher pods, each capable of firing up to 4 fire-and-forget infrared/ultraviolet guided missiles in rapid succession. Avenger can be linked to the Forward Area Air Defense Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (FAAD C3I) system, which permits external radar tracks and messages to be passed to the fire unit to alert and cue the gunner. Using the newly developed Slew-to-Queue subsystem, the commander or gunner can select a FAAD C3I reported target for engagement from a display on their HTU, then, by a single push-button, initiate an automatic cab movement to azimuth. The slew-to-queue system is not wide-spread, however. The M1097, M1097A1, M1097A2 use a troop seat kit for troop transport operations, a 200 ampere umbilical power cable to power shelter equipment, and stowage racks for ammunition and equipment. To accommodate the higher payload capacity, the vehicles are equipped with a reinforced frame, crossmembers, lifting shackles, heavy duty rear springs, shock absorbers, reinforced control arms, heavy duty tires and rims, and a transfer case and differential with modified gear ratio.
The M1097, M1097A1, and M1097A2 and M1123 are specifically designed to accommodate a higher payload capacity. The M1097A2 models have new bumpers, which make the vehicles slightly longer. A 9,000 lb winch is also available for the M1097A2 models as an option.
[edit] Sensors
- Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR)
- Laser rangefinder
- Optical sight
[edit] Weapons
- 4/8 ready-to-fire FIM-92 Stinger missiles
- 1 M3P machine gun, which is a modified M2. It is a .50 cal with an electronic trigger that can be fired from both the RCU located in the drivers cab, and from the handstation located in the Avenger cockpit. Loads 1 box of 200−250 rounds at a time.
[edit] Upgrades
Due to the lack of airborne threat in Iraq, and the pressing need for ground assets for combat roles such as convoy protection, the Avenger has been pressed into this role.[1] The FLIR/laser rangefinder combined with the .50 cal machine gun has proven very effective, but is limited by no-fire zones, particularly to the front of the vehicle.[2] A program was instituted to remove one of the missile pods and move the machine gun to that position to enable a 360° field of fire.[3] This upgrade also increased the ammunition capacity to 650 rounds.
A possible future variant allows for a 600 round ammunition can, only one Stinger missile pod (4 missiles), and 2 FGM-148 Javelin missiles. This variant is largely hoped for by the soldiers, but due to the re-organisation of the U.S. Army air-defense structure into combined air and missile defense, it is somewhat unlikely this variant will make it into large scale production.
[edit] Dimensions
- Length - 16 ft 3 in (4.95 m)
- Weight - 8,600 lb (4300 kg)
- Crew - 2
- Roadspeed - 55 mph (89 km/h)
- Range - 275 miles (443 km)
- Primary weapon - 4/8 FIM-92 Stinger missiles
- Secondary weapon - .50 M3P machine gun
- Engine power output - 150 hp (112 kW)
