New weapon set to psych out insurgents - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

New weapon set to psych out insurgents

A fresh Army Stryker brigade recently entered Iraq armed with the Mobile Gun System.

The MGS has a stabilized, direct-fire 105mm cannon mounted atop a Stryker vehicle for destroying hard targets such as bunkers and barricaded enemy positions.

The 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, from Fort Lewis, Wash., is the first these fast-moving units to deploy with the new system.

The unit had a chance to test-fire the new MGS Strykers in Kuwait before crossing into Iraq.

The MGS is equipped with a digital targeting system that calculates effects of wind and barometric pressure on the 105mm rounds to improve their accuracy.

The test fire at Udairi Range marked the first time the unit had fired with live, explosive rounds.

“We are an infantry support vehicle,” Sgt. 1st Class John Abronski, a platoon sergeant with 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, said in an Army press release. Abronski would not discuss specifics about how the Stryker will be used in Iraq but said the MGS will give the unit a psychological edge.

“If I was looking down this barrel, I’d consider it a deterrent,” he said.

The Army began fielding the MGS last year. Before that, Stryker units had been relying on Anti-tank Guided Missile Strykers to compensate for the lack of MGS Strykers.

But commanders learned that the tube-launched optically tracked wire-guided, or TOW, missile system doesn’t work well in some urban areas because the guiding wires attached to the missiles often become entangled in the multitude of low-hanging electrical wires, program officials maintain.

ATGMs also are not designed to shoot on the move as the MGS is.

The Stryker brigade, which includes about 3,700 soldiers, will be deployed in the Baghdad area and in northern Iraq, U.S. military officials said Wednesday

It’s the fourth of five brigades being sent to help Iraqi security forces as part of the crackdown.

U.S. military spokesman Rear Adm. Mark Fox said Wednesday that Iraqi and U.S. forces now have 57 joint security stations and combat outposts in the Baghdad area and that “while the security situation remains exceedingly challenging, we’ve seen some encouraging signs of progress.”

“We continue to see a reduced total number of sectarian incidents in comparison to before the Baghdad security operation, including murders and kidnappings,” Fox told reporters in Baghdad. But he said car bomb attacks have increased, including some with very high casualties.

When complete, the Baghdad security operation will include about 28,000 additional U.S. forces, including 20,500 combat soldiers and about 8,000 service members involved in support services such as intelligence, military police and logistics.

The Associated Press contributed to this report