Army Fast Tracks GPS Mortar Round

[unhappycamper]

Army Fast Tracks GPS Mortar Round

The Army is fast tracking a GPS guided 120mm mortar round to Afghanistan in response to an urgent request for precision mortar fire from commanders on the ground there, and should be fielded by the end of the year. Called the Accelerated Precision Mortar Initiative (APMI), it improves upon the current round’s 136-meter Circular Error Probable (CEP) reducing it to about 10-meters.

“This is designed for a precision capability such as against a sniper in a building, or enemies in a bunker or trench. If you were to engage with a conventional mortar round, you would have to fire 8-to-10 rounds to kill or suppress the target. With APMI, you will probably be able to do the same thing with one or two rounds,” said Bruce Kay, systems coordinator for the Army’s mortar programs in a press release.

The Army will soon down-select from one of three competing industry teams: Raytheon-Israeli Military Industries, General Dynamics and ATK.

This is another example of the Army redressing a long neglected weapon that will be hugely important in the small unit, infantry battles that will dominate current and future wars.


Article at: http://defensetech.org/2010/03/12/army-fast-tracks-gps-mortar-round/?wh=wh



unhappycamper comment: Of course there was no mention of how much money the 120MM GPS-guided mortar round costs. I guess they did want to spoil our beautiful minds. :sarcasm:

A little digging turns up this gem: $40,000 a round. Knowing the way DoD hides the bucks I'd guess this precision guided munition costs at least twice that.

[Fumesucker]

1. It would be cheaper just to buy the damn sniper.. $1,000 would probably do it easily.. n/t

[cliffordu]

5. I was just going to write the same thing....

[Fumesucker]

7. A mortar shell full of 200 $5 bills would do it..

Have a proximity fuse that scatters the bills say 100 feet up over the target.. The sniper would probably break his damn neck scrambling after the money..

[cliffordu]

8. Really.

:rofl:

[3324SS]

2. YEAH! We can Kill More people Now!

God Bless America and how creative we can be in killing people!

[east texas lib]

3. The Brits developed a heat seeking guided mortar round years ago called "SLAP".

Guess it didn't catch on.

[Owl]

4. Cost is apparently of no concern.

[L0oniX]

6. 700+ billion a year and growing everyday. Had enough yet?

[gratuitous]

9. And still not one smidgen more effective

If you're being used as a tool by the locals to settle personal disputes.

[ThomWV]

10. You ever had someone shooting a mortar at you?

Its quite an experience when they come walking your way, and you can watch each step and in your mind calculate just how many more it will be until they get you.

[krispos42]

11. For the cost of a dozen mortar rounds they could have a Tomahawk cruise missile.

:nuke:

That cost per round had better go down a bit. To, say, $200 a round.

[tabasco]

12. I'm a former four deuce platoon leader and this sounds like some stupid shit.

Mortars are already very accurate. I really doubt they will ever have a mission when they fire two rounds and call it mission complete.

Sounds like profiteering to me.

[Mari333]

13. the corporate never ending black hole that is bankrupting this country