The American Embassy in Baghdad defended its compound from incoming projectiles using a Gatling gun that lit up the night sky with tracer rounds.
The primary firing component of the C-RAM system (Counter-Rocket, Artillery, Mortar) is a 20 mm Gatling gun capable of firing 4,500 rounds per minute, CNN reports, via Rks News.
The system is paired with radars, sensors, and communication modules and is mounted on a 35-ton trailer, allowing both mobility and the ability to quickly detect and destroy incoming targets, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA).
The 20 mm rounds are both armor-piercing and high-explosive, capable of engaging air and ground targets up to 2,000 meters, per manufacturer General Dynamics. They also feature a self-destruct mechanism if the target is missed, preventing unintended damage.
The system is derived from a U.S. Navy system considered the last line of defense for warships against incoming cruise missiles or surface targets that evade long-range ship defenses.
The naval system made headlines in 2024 when the guided-missile destroyer Gravely used it to shoot down a Houthi missile approaching more than a mile from the warship in the Red Sea.
The land-based version has been used thousands of times to protect U.S. operational bases in Iraq and Afghanistan since its first deployment in Iraq in 2004, according to MDAA.
