Inside the Air Force reports in their latest issue:
Army infantry units should be equipped with laserguided mortar rounds, according to recommendations from the first phase of a larger Army precision fires capabilities study, sister publication Inside the Army reports. The recommendation comes out of a broader study launched to address requests from infantry commanders for a precision-strike weapon to replace traditional mortars, which tend to cause “unacceptable amounts of collateral damage,” according to an Army spokesman at the service’s Training and Doctrine Command.
Back in May, the WWS quoted security expert Stuart Koehl, now a regular contributor here, and globalsecurity.org’s John Pike on the Army’s Excalibur precision artillery system, which had just seen its first use in Iraq:
Koehl says the Army ought to be focused instead on developing a precision mortar capability. The war in Iraq is being waged by small infantry units in urban areas and in close combat. Precision mortars would give much needed firepower and flexibility to those units–“a 5-pound mortar bomb on the roof does the trick, and with a lot less collateral damage than even a 100-pound GPS-guided projectile.” Pike was also eager to see mortars upgraded with a precision capability: “Having [precision guided] mortars in direct support of a small unit, you can’t get any better than that, because that’s organic fire support. The time on target is short relative to field artillery, you don’t have the elaborate fire support planning that goes into tube artillery, and you have a face-to-face relationship between the mortar team and the other people who are in the fight. So by all means…let us put GPS guidance on our mortar rounds as well.”
Well, this new system isn’t guided by GPS, but “It has demonstrated accuracy to within 2 meters of a target from just over 7 kilometers away.” It’s a good start.
