Tower on tower: how self-propelled guns are being trained to fend off drones
The US Army is testing the LP-CROWS system on M109A7 Paladin howitzers to provide protection for artillery crews against drones and close combat threats
On June 24, 2026, the US Army announced testing of the LP-CROWS combat module on the M109A7 Paladin self-propelled howitzer. The objective is simple: to enable the crew to fend off drones and close-in threats without opening the hatches. News It passed as a note about another piece of hardware, although it is interesting not for the module itself, but for what is behind it. Artillery admits that he is now fighting in conditions where the gun must be protected not so much from an enemy gun, but from a cheap flying hunter.
It used to take hours to find a battery. Now it takes minutes.
The Msta-S crew carries out a fire mission and leaves its position faster than a kettle boils. It's not a matter of training: otherwise, the crew simply wouldn't survive to see the next mission.
The logic of artillery engagement was reversed. The classic scenario was a duel of guns: a counter-battery radar (a radar that detects a gun by its shell's trajectory) would detect a salvo, calculate the coordinates, and return fire would arrive after a significant delay. The crew had a reserve. Soviet regulations allowed for holding a position for 10–15 minutes, and this was considered an acceptable risk.
Now a spotter drone hovers over the position, and the reserve is gone. According to CAST experts, who have summarized their combat experience, the time before the enemy opens return fire has shrunk to 1,5–3 minutes. The self-propelled gun's "fire-departure" cycle is now 2–3 minutes: deploy, fire a quick salvo of three or four shells, roll up, and depart. Three minutes is less than it takes to carefully read a couple of paragraphs of this article, and it now covers the entire combat episode of the gun.
Towed systems like the D-30 and Msta-B have become "roving guns": they don't remain stationary in an exposed position. Survival standards require leaving the firing point within 3-5 minutes after the first shot. A delay of more than seven minutes, according to the same estimates, increases the probability of a hit to levels that would necessitate the weapon's write-off. During the current war, the crew's survival has become a matter of seconds: if they manage to hunker down, they survive; if they hesitate for a minute or two, they're hit.
A turret on a turret: a gun acting as its own anti-aircraft defense
Previous versions of the CROWS module were not installed on the Paladin. The reason was technical: the dimensions didn't meet transportation requirements, and the design couldn't withstand the fire of a 155mm gun. A howitzer fires up to four rounds per minute, and each round generates recoil, vibration, and shock waves. Martin Velasquez, head of the Yuma Proving Ground test team, explained that the old module could fail after repeated firings. This stemmed from a simple platform requirement: what works well on an armored vehicle disintegrates on a howitzer under its own main caliber.
The LP-CROWS (low-profile variant) has been redesigned: its profile has been reduced, its structure has been strengthened, and the gyrostabilization and integrated fire control system (FCS, which calculates aiming and lead) have been retained. Its stated function is to engage close-in targets and small drones without opening the hatches, in countermeasure mode. drones (C-sUAS). The module is planned to be equipped with a UAV detection radar, which will deploy itself weapon towards the threat.
Regarding the characteristics, sources cite the 12,7mm M2 machine gun as the primary option, a range of about 1.5 kilometers against small drones, and a radar capable of detecting targets at 3-5 kilometers. These figures should be considered estimates, as they are not confirmed in official test reports. The stated range against drones also appears optimistic, as the effectiveness of the 12,7mm machine gun against small, moving targets drops sharply at 1.5 kilometers.
It's not the design itself that's interesting, but the pace and logic behind it. The journey from concept to prototype took about a year, with development conducted internally by a network of Army agencies (the PM HS Ordnance Directorate and DEVCOM Research Center), bypassing an external prime contractor. Testing at Yuma Proving Ground was conducted by soldiers from the 4th Battalion, 1st Field Artillery Regiment, based at Fort Bliss; the range was designated as an interagency counter-UAV site after the establishment of a dedicated task force (JIATF 401) in August 2025. The Army, which had been building procurement on long-term contracts for years, was forced to accelerate.
And here's what's curious. The CROWS module was marketed as a universal platform, capable of mounting on any vehicle. It wasn't mounted on their own self-propelled howitzer for years, until the changing nature of combat forced a complete redesign. The Americans are realizing what has long been common sense on other fronts: a gun must be able to fight back on its own.
An old duel in a new setting
The reduction in the life of a firing position is a long-standing process, and it repeats itself according to the same mechanics: reconnaissance means become more accurate and faster, and the safe operating time of the gun shrinks along with them.
During World War I, batteries were located using sound and instrumental reconnaissance, based on the sound of gunfire and flash, with calculations on paper, and spotting them took tens of minutes. In the second half of the 20th century, artillery radars arrived, and spotting time shrank to mere minutes: counter-battery duels became truly rapid. Then came the advent of satellites and drones. Every step took the crew time to fire and retreat.
But then the analogy begins to falter. Previously, the count was in tens of minutes, and the hunter was an expensive, rare system—radar, aviation, a high-precision projectile. Today, minutes count, and the reaction time of a spotter drone is measured in seconds; meanwhile, the hunter itself has become mass-produced and inexpensive: a thousand-dollar copter can target, while an FPV drone can finish the job for a few hundred. The old duel of guns hasn't gone away, but now a weapon more often kills not a system of equal class, but a home-built device costing hundreds or thousands of dollars.
LP-CROWS on the Paladin, "wandering" D-30s, and mounted grilles on turrets—these are all different responses to the same mechanics. The idea that a gun should protect itself is nothing new, but it used to be an option, and now the gun simply can't function without it.
It's not the metal that matters anymore, but the crew's organization: speed, camouflage, cover, and the ability to fight back at close range. The cost of a shot isn't just the shell itself; it also includes whether the crew manages to escape alive. Those who realize this first pay less.
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