Robin, is that on preorder anywhere?

The trailer-mounted C-RAM version has been tested in Iraq and Afghanistan :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7zNCl94fI8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEgFlwlCDS8

H.P.

What need is there for Air Defense in Afghanistan? Defense against flying carpets?

...a good Air Defense set up (which, as far as I know, the US doesn't have anything between the Patriot and a grunt with a Stinger on his shoulder)

Not to mention the ammo issue. Your platform has to be able haul the weapon system but also enough ammo to make it worth the effort. Best weapon system in the wold is a paper weight if it can only carry a nano second's worth of ammo. The outfit making the 1/35 Phalanx also makes a version with a missile system (sea sparrow?) That on a proper chassis would make a good Air Defense set up (which, as far as I know, the US doesn't have anything between the Patriot and a grunt with a Stinger on his shoulder)

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What need is there for Air Defense in Afghanistan? Defense against flying carpets?

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No flying carpets there, but 107mm Chinese-made rockets which are much more lethal.... :

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/10/21/meet-the-massive-guns-protecting-u-s-bases-from-rocket-attacks-in-afghanistan/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.f6ca2145287b
I would hate to be down range when the shells that missed come raining down. If they are high explosive, it wouldn't even have to hit you.
H.P.

More views :

from https://southfront.org/saudi-led-coalitions-deliveries-of-armoured-vehicles-to-its-allies-in-yemen/


H.P.

There is just this conceptual art:



No such thing in reality. The real Phalanx is WAY too large to fit on MATV.

It barely fits on a HEMTT... The boxes at the rear are needed for it to work too.

So in many ways, the U.S. Army really needs that MML or MSL to carry and launch the AIM-9X for about a 20+ mile range or else risk being an all-Stinger mobile SAM force still.

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So in many ways, the U.S. Army really needs that MML or MSL to carry and launch the AIM-9X for about a 20+ mile range or else risk being an all-Stinger mobile SAM force still.

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The US is still in a world of hurt regarding Air Defense. You've got nothing between light, short range IR guided SAM's (consisting of decades old Stingers) and heavy, fixed Patriot batteries (which one assumes would be a priority target if we ever fight against a peer). Adding optically guided MG's or Hellfires isn't going to change anything. A Hellfire, which was designed to target nothing moving faster than a tank, has little ability to take down a fast jet or an agile UAV. Compare that to the layered defenses that the "bad guys" have. The funny thing is that the US actually already has a very effective, radar guided, medium range SAM deployed in service. Apparently though, this system will never leave the confines of the USA.