Mortar Round

Mortars are infantry-organic indirect fire weapons that launch fin-stabilized projectiles in a high arc to strike targets behind cover, in defilade positions, or in built-up areas where direct-fire weapons cannot reach. Ranging from 60mm light mortars carried by a single soldier to 120mm heavy mortars mounted on vehicles, they fill the gap between hand grenades and artillery, providing company and battalion commanders with responsive fire support without waiting for external assets.

The mortar's simplicity is its greatest strength. A basic mortar consists of a smooth-bore tube, a base plate, and a bipod. Loading is as simple as dropping a round into the muzzle and letting it slide down to strike a fixed firing pin. This simplicity allows extremely high rates of fire, an experienced crew can sustain 15-20 rounds per minute from a 60mm mortar, and makes the weapon reliable in conditions that would degrade more complex systems.

Modern mortar ammunition has been transformed by precision guidance. The GPS-guided 120mm mortar round, such as the XM395 Accelerated Precision Mortar Initiative (APMI), gives infantry units a precision strike capability with a CEP of less than 10 meters at maximum range. This allows a mortar team to engage specific targets like vehicles, crew-served weapons, or bunkers with a single round rather than the dozens of conventional rounds previously required.