Israelische Streitkräfte erproben GPS-gesteuerte Granatwerfermunition

[theoderich]

https://www.facebook.com/IsraelMOD/vide ... ?__tn__=-R


Iron Sting – Laser and GPS-Guided Mortar Munition (GMM)
120mm precision-guided munition SAL/GPS/IMU

https://elbitsystems.com/media/Catalog- ... _5_Web.pdf

[theoderich]

Iron Sting: An exclusive look inside Israeli’s new precision mortar (26. Februar 2024)

During a visit to a military base in central Israel, Breaking Defense received a rare look at the 120mm mortar up-close, alongside Lt. Col. Liron Cohen, an IDF officer who helped develop it through the Ministry of Defense’s Directorate of Defense Research and Development.

Cohen is the head of the munitions branch in the technology division of the Technology and Logistics Directorate, which puts him in charge of “almost all ground munitions,” and was part of the development of the Iron Sting from the beginning. It was co-developed with the DDR&D and Elbit Systems.

“This is one of a kind in the world,” Cohen said about the weapon, which the IDF says has the level of precision usually reserved for air-launched missiles – but built into the kind of mortar that every soldier can learn how to operate. That means it can be used against specific targets in the kind of complex environments the IDF is facing in Gaza, potentially forgoing the need to call in an air strike.

Operationally, the Iron String replaces the concept of mortars as a statistical weapon, where you fire a number of them near a target and hope to neutralize it, and instead turns it into a precision-guided weapon — but one that is cheaper to equip and deploy than air-launched effects.

The launcher can be mounted on a vehicle such as an M113 and a Humvee. The version seen by Breaking Defense was on a Humvee and had an intuitive and user friendly interface, with a joystick that lowers the mortar barrel so forces can quickly deploy it. The mortar is plugged into a computer on a Humvee, where the mortar’s internal system receives the data it needs for its mission. Once launched it powers up, expands guidance fins, and uses GPS and its laser seeker to fly towards it target.

The operator can also choose to have the round explode with a proximity sensor, meaning in the air just above a target, or to penetrate a target and then explode. The latter tactic be useful to penetrate a building and strike a specific room. “It can penetrate through the ceiling or wall,” Cohen said.

Cohen noted that the mortar has a failsafe: if the computer analyzes its trajectory and it is not going to hit the target, the munition is neutralized and lands as a dud. And while a dud mortar can still harm people — no one would enjoy a 16kg weight, slightly heavier than a normal 120mm round, lobbed at high speeds hitting them — the weapon won’t explode, limiting accidental damage to people and property.

Elements of the Maglan special forces used the Iron Sting for the first time operationally on Sunday, Oct. 22, striking a Hamas rocket launching site.

https://breakingdefense.com/2024/02/iro ... on-mortar/