Mortar (weapon)

Mortars launch explosive shells (technically called bombs)[1] in high-arching ballistic trajectories.

[4] In the Ming dynasty, general Qi Jiguang recorded the use of a mini cannon called the hu dun pao that was similar to the mortar.

[6] The time of flight of these was apparently long enough that casualties could be avoided by posting observers to give warning of their trajectories.

Simply made, these weapons were no more than iron bowls reminiscent of the kitchen and apothecary mortars whence they drew their name.

The Coehorn mortar gained quick popularity, necessitating a new form of naval ship, the bomb vessel.

Mortars played a significant role in the Venetian conquest of Morea, and in the course of this campaign an ammunition depot in the Parthenon was blown up.

High angle trajectory mortars held a great advantage over standard field guns in the rough terrain of the West Highlands of Scotland.

At the Siege of Vicksburg, General Ulysses S. Grant reported making mortars "by taking logs of the toughest wood that could be found, boring them out for 6 or 12 lb (2.7 or 5.4 kg) shells and binding them with strong iron bands.

The German Army studied the Siege of Port Arthur, where heavy artillery had been unable to destroy defensive structures like barbed wire and bunkers.

Stokes' design was initially rejected in June 1915 because it was unable to use existing stocks of British mortar ammunition, and it took the intervention of David Lloyd George (at that time Minister of Munitions) and Lieutenant Colonel J. C. Matheson of the Trench Warfare Supply Department (who reported to Lloyd George) to expedite manufacture of the Stokes mortar.

[11] The Stokes mortar was a simple muzzle-loaded weapon, consisting of a smoothbore metal tube fixed to a base plate (to absorb recoil) with a lightweight bipod mount.

[12] A modified version of the mortar, which fired a modern fin-stabilised streamlined projectile and had a booster charge for longer range, was developed after World War I;[13] this was in effect a new weapon.

By World War II, it could fire as many as 30 bombs per minute and had a range of over 2,500 yd (2,300 m) with some shell types.

There are numerous armoured fighting vehicles and even main battle tanks that can be equipped with a mortar, either outside or inside of the cabin.

Such weapons are most commonly smoothbore, firing fin-stabilised rounds, using relatively small propellant charges in comparison to projectile weight.

Such hybrids are much heavier and more complicated than infantry mortars, superior to rocket-propelled grenades in the anti-armour and bunker-busting role, but have a reduced range compared to modern gun-howitzers and inferior anti-tank capability compared to modern anti-tank guided weapons.

However, they do have a niche in, for example, providing a multi-role anti-personnel, anti-armour capability in light mobile formations.

It uses a 120 mm automatic twin-barrelled, breech-loaded mortar turret, which can be mounted on a variety of armoured vehicles and attack boats.

After World War II the Belgium Fly-K silent spigot mortar was accepted into French service as the TN-8111.

Simple launchers use a separate small primer cap as the sole propellant (similar or identical to the cartridges used in industrial nail guns).

Insurgent groups often use improvised, or "homemade" mortars to attack fortified military installations or terrorise civilians.

The length and calibre of the barrel indicate Pasilan 2000 system has common features to the Chinese made Type 82 130 mm (5.1 in) 30-tube MLRS (introduced by the Palestinian Liberation Army (PLA) in the early 1980s) rather than rail-guided Katyusha variants such as the Qassam Rocket.

[23] [24] Most modern mortar systems consist of four main components: a barrel, a base plate, a bipod and a sight.

[27] Based on Orbital ATK's Precision Guidance Kit for 155 mm artillery projectiles, XM395 combines GPS guidance and directional control surfaces into a package that replaces standard fuses, transforming existing 120 mm mortar bodies into precision-guided munitions.

The round contains an infrared imaging sensor that it uses to guide itself onto any tank or armoured fighting vehicle in the vicinity where it lands.

In particular, because of its high, parabolic trajectory with a near vertical descent, the mortar can land bombs on nearby targets, including those behind obstacles or in fortifications, such as light vehicles behind hills or structures, or infantry in trenches or spider holes.

Mortars are also highly effective when used from concealed positions, such as the natural escarpments on hillsides or from woods, especially if forward observers are being employed in strategic positions to direct fire, an arrangement where the mortar is in relatively close proximity both to its forward observer and its target, allowing for fire to be quickly and accurately delivered with lethal effect.

Because of the difference in available volume, a smooth-bore mortar of a given diameter will have a greater explosive yield than a similarly sized artillery shell of a gun or howitzer.

An early example was Roaring Meg, with a 15.5 in (390 mm) barrel diameter and firing a 220 lb (100 kg) hollow ball filled with gunpowder and used during the English Civil War in 1646.

[34] The World War II German Karl-Gerät was a 60 cm (24 in) mortar and the largest to see combat in modern warfare.