Mortars are much younger than howitzers and cannons - for the first time a weapon firing a feathered mine along a very steep trajectory was created by Russian artillerymen during the defense of Port Arthur. During World War II, the mortar was already the main "infantry artillery". In the course of subsequent wars with battles in settlements, mountainous and wooded areas, the jungle, he became indispensable for all the belligerent parties. The demand for mortars was growing, especially among partisans of all stripes, which did not prevent the command of a number of armies from periodically pushing their mortar weapons into the background, returning to it under the influence of the experience of the next war. And the mortar from time to time enters into a "creative union" with different types of artillery, and as a result, a wide variety of "universal" weapons appear.
Typically, a mortar is a smoothbore gun that fires at an elevation angle of 45-85 degrees. There are also rifled mortars, but more about them below. According to the method of movement, mortars are divided into portable, transportable, towed (many towed mortars are also transportable) and self-propelled. Most of the mortars are muzzle-loading, the shot is fired either because a mine sliding down the barrel with its weight "pricks" the capsule on the bottom with a fixed striker, or by a shock-trigger mechanism. With hasty firing, the so-called double loading can occur, when the mortarman sends the next mine into the barrel even before the first one flew off, so some mortars are equipped with a safety guard against double loading. Large-caliber and automatic mortars, as well as self-propelled ones with a tower installation, are usually loaded from the breech, and they have recoil devices.
The steepness of the trajectory allows you to fire from cover and "over the heads" of your troops, to reach the enemy behind slopes of heights, in crevices and on city streets, and not only manpower, but also field fortifications. The ability to collect a combination of variable charges in combustible caps on the tail of a mine gives a wide maneuver in terms of firing range. The advantages of the mortar include the simplicity of the device and low weight - this is the lightest and most maneuverable type of artillery gun with a sufficiently large caliber and combat rate of fire, the disadvantages are the unimportant accuracy of firing with conventional mines.
120-mm mortar 2B11 complex "Sani" in a firing position, USSR
From toddlers to giants
Another surge of interest in mortars occurred at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. The nature of modern conflicts and military operations requires high mobility of units and subunits, their rapid transfer to the combat area in any region, and at the same time they have sufficient firepower. Accordingly, light artillery systems with ample maneuvering capabilities (quick change of positions, maneuvering trajectories), air transportable, with high ammunition power and a short time between target detection and the opening of fire on it are needed. Various countries have deployed programs - their own or joint - to develop a new generation of mortars.
The most common mortar caliber by now is 120 millimeters. After World War II, a gradual transition of this caliber to the battalion level began, where it replaced the usual 81 and 82 mm calibers. Among the first, 120-mm mortars were introduced as battalion armies of France and Finland. In the Soviet army, 120-mm mortars were transferred from the regimental level to the battalion level in the late 1960s. This significantly increased the fire capabilities of battalions, but at the same time required more mobility from 120-mm mortars. In the Central Research Institute "Burevestnik" under the available ammunition of 120-mm shots, a lightweight mortar complex "Sani" was developed, which was put into service in 1979 under the designation 2S12. Mortar (index 2B11) - muzzle-loading, made according to the usual scheme of an imaginary triangle, with a detachable wheel drive. A GAZ-66-05 car served for the transportation of the mortar. The "transportable" character allows you to achieve a high cruising speed - up to 90 km / h, although this requires a specially equipped vehicle (winch, bridges, mortar attachments in the body), and a separate vehicle will be required to transport a full ammunition load. Towing a mortar behind a car off-road is used for short distances with a quick change of position.
A rather large role in the growth of interest in 120-mm mortars was played by the effectiveness of 120-mm lighting and smoke mines, as well as work on guided and corrected mines (although the main place in mortar ammunition is still occupied by "ordinary" mines). As examples we can mention the Swedish Strix homing mine (with a firing range of up to 7.5 kilometers), the American-German XM395 (up to 15 kilometers), the German Bussard and the French Assed (with homing warheads). In Russia, the Tula Instrument Design Bureau created the Gran 'complex with a 120-mm high-explosive fragmentation mine aimed at the target using a laser designator-rangefinder complete with a thermal imaging sight, with a firing range of up to 9 kilometers.
81- and 82-mm mortars passed into the category of light, designed to support units operating on foot in rough terrain. An example of this is the 82-mm mortars 2B14 (2B14-1) "Tray" and 2B24, created at the Central Research Institute "Burevestnik". The first weighs 42 kilograms, fires at ranges of up to 3, 9 and 4, 1 kilometer, for carrying it is traditionally disassembled into three packs, the weight of the second is 45 kilograms, the firing range is up to 6 kilometers. The adoption of the 2B14 mortar in 1983 was facilitated by the experience of the Afghan war, which required portable means of support for motorized rifle and parachute companies. Among foreign 81-mm mortars, one of the best is considered to be the British L16 weighing 37.8 kilograms with a firing range of up to 5.65 kilometers.
240-mm self-propelled mortar 2S4 "Tulip", USSR
Less common are heavy mortars of 160 mm caliber - such breech-loading systems were, for example, in service with the armies of the USSR (where they first adopted such a mortar), Israel, and India.
The largest of the mortars produced was, perhaps, the Soviet 420-mm self-propelled complex 2B1 "Oka", created for firing nuclear shells. True, this mortar weighing more than 55 tons was built in only 4 pieces.
Among the serial mortars, the largest caliber - 240 millimeters - is also possessed by the Soviet towed M-240 of the 1950 model and the self-propelled 2S4 "Tulip" of 1971, both breech-loading schemes with a tipping barrel for loading. Accordingly, shots from the ammunition load also look solid - with a high-explosive fragmentation mine weighing 130.7 kilograms, an active-reactive mine weighing 228 kilograms, special shots with nuclear mines with a capacity of 2 kilotons each. "Tulip" entered the artillery brigades of the Reserve of the High Command and was intended to destroy especially important targets inaccessible to flat artillery fire - nuclear attack weapons, long-term fortifications, fortified buildings, command posts, artillery and rocket batteries. Since 1983, the "Tulip" was able to fire a corrected mine of the 1K113 "Smelchak" complex with a semi-active laser guidance system. This "flower", of course, cannot shoot directly from the vehicle, unlike 81- or 120-mm self-propelled mortars. For this, the mortar with a base plate is lowered to the ground. Although this technique is practiced in less solid systems - when using a light chassis. For example, in the Soviet motorcycle installation during the Great Patriotic War, where an 82-mm mortar was mounted instead of a motorized carriage. A modern lightweight open Singapore "strike" vehicle "Spider" carries a long-barreled 120-mm mortar in the back, quickly lowered from the stern to the ground for shooting and just as quickly "thrown" back into the body. True, these systems did not receive armor protection - it is replaced by high mobility, the speed of transfer from the traveling position to the combat position and vice versa.
On the other "pole" there are light mortars of 50-60 mm caliber. Debates about their effectiveness have been going on for almost as long as they exist. In our country, 50-mm company mortars were removed from service during the Great Patriotic War, although the Wehrmacht used such installations quite successfully. Light mortars with a firing range of no more (or a little more) a kilometer, but carried along with the ammunition load of 1-2 soldiers, were accepted into service in many countries and later. In "conventional" (motorized infantry or motorized rifle) units, automatic grenade launchers made a successful competition for them, leaving light mortars a niche in the armament of special forces, light infantry, in units that conduct mainly close combat and cannot count on immediate support of "heavy" weapons. An example is the French 60-mm "Commando" (weight - 7, 7 kilograms, firing range - up to 1050 meters), purchased by more than 20 countries, or the American M224 of the same caliber. Even lighter (6, 27 kilograms) British 51-mm L9A1, however, with a firing range of no more than 800 meters. The Israelis, by the way, found a very original application for 60-mm mortars - as an additional weapon for the main battle tank "Merkava".
State and rifled
In the early 1960s, the MO-RT-61 rifled muzzle-loading 120-mm mortar entered service with the French army, in which several solutions were combined - a rifled barrel, ready-made protrusions on the leading belt of the projectile, a powder charge on a special charger flying out along with the projectile … The advantages of this system were not fully appreciated immediately and not everywhere. What are they?
A feathered non-rotating mine has a number of advantages. It is simple in design, cheap to manufacture, falling almost vertically with its head downward ensures reliable fuse operation and effective fragmentation and high-explosive action. At the same time, a number of elements of the mine hull are weakly involved in the formation of the fragmentation field. Its stabilizer practically does not produce useful fragments, the tail part of the hull, containing little explosive, is crushed into large fragments at a very low speed, in the head part, due to the excess of explosive, a significant part of the metal of the hull goes into dust. Destructive fragments with the required mass and speed of expansion are mainly produced by the cylindrical part of the body, which is small in length. In a projectile with ready-made protrusions (the so-called rifled), it is possible to achieve a greater elongation of the body, make walls of the same thickness along the length and, with an equal mass, obtain a more uniform fragmentation field. And with a simultaneous increase in the amount of explosive, both the speed of flight of the fragments and the high-explosive effect of the projectile grow. In a 120-mm rifled projectile, the average speed of dispersal of the fragments was almost 1.5 times higher than that of a mine of the same caliber. Since the lethal effect of the fragments is determined by their kinetic energy, the significance of the increase in the scattering velocity is clear. True, a rifled projectile is much more difficult and more expensive to manufacture. And stabilization by rotation makes it difficult to shoot at high elevation angles - the "over-stabilized" projectile does not have time to "tip over" and often falls with its tail part forward. This is where the feathered mine has advantages.
In the USSR, experts in the artillery direction of the Central Research Institute of Precision Engineering (TSNIITOCHMASH) in the city of Klimovsk took up the study of the possibilities of combining rifled shells with a rifled barrel in solving problems of military artillery. Already the first experiments with French shells brought to the Soviet Union gave promising results. In terms of the power of the 120-mm rifled high-explosive fragmentation projectile, it turned out to be close to the usual 152-mm howitzer projectile. TsNIITOCHMASH, together with specialists from the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate, began work on a universal weapon.
In general, the idea of a "universal tool" has repeatedly changed its appearance. In the 20-30s of the XX century, they worked on universal guns with the properties of ground and anti-aircraft fire (primarily for divisional artillery) and light (battalion) guns, solving the problems of a light howitzer and anti-tank gun. Neither idea justified itself. In the 1950s-1960s, it was already a question of combining the properties of a howitzer and a mortar - suffice it to recall the experienced American guns XM70 "Moritzer" and M98 "Gautar" (the names are derived from the combination of the words "mortar" and "howitzer": MORtar - howiTZER and HOWitzer - morTAR). But abroad, these projects were abandoned, while in our country they were engaged in a 120-mm rifled gun with a replaceable breech and various types of charges, which, if necessary, turned it into a muzzle-loading mortar or a recoilless gun (however, the last "hypostasis" was soon abandoned).
Variants of shots used with 120-mm universal guns of the "Nona" family
Unique "station wagons"
Meanwhile, as part of large-scale work on self-propelled artillery, there was a difficult development for the airborne troops of the self-propelled 122-mm howitzer "Violet" and the 120-mm mortar "Lily of the valley" on the chassis of the airborne combat vehicle. But the light chassis, even lengthened by one roller, could not withstand the recoil momentum of the gun. Then it was proposed to create a universal 120-mm gun on the same base.
The theme of the work received the cipher "Nona" (in the literature various variants of decoding of this name are given, but it seems that it was just a word chosen by the customer). An airborne self-propelled gun was urgently needed, so the legendary commander of the Airborne Forces, Army General V. F. Margelov literally "pushed through" this topic. And in 1981, the 120-mm self-propelled artillery gun (SAO) 2S9 "Nona-S" was adopted, which soon began to arrive in the Airborne Forces.
The unique combat capabilities of the "Nona" lie in its ballistics and ammunition load. With rifled high-explosive fragmentation projectiles - conventional and active-reactive - the gun fires along a hinged "howitzer" trajectory. On the steeper, "mortar", fire is fired with conventional 120-mm mines, and mines of domestic and foreign production can be used (a considerable plus for the landing party). The mine goes along the barrel with a gap without damaging the rifling, but the breech-loading scheme made it possible to make the barrel longer, so that the accuracy of fire is somewhat better than that of most 120-mm mortars. The gun can also fire along a flat trajectory, like a cannon, however, with a low initial projectile velocity (a cumulative projectile was introduced into the ammunition to combat armored targets), besides, light armor protection makes direct fire too dangerous.
82-mm automatic mortar 2B9M "Vasilek", USSR
When developing a completely new complex, there were some curiosities. So, for example, after the first display of Nona-S at the parade on May 9, 1985, foreign analysts became very interested in the blister (spherical tide) on the left side of the tower, suspecting that under it was a fundamentally new automated sighting system with a rangefinder and a target designator. But everything was much simpler - after the installation of the artillery unit, instruments and crew workstations in a shrunken (in accordance with the requirements) tower, it turned out that the gunner was inconvenient to work with the periscope sight. To make room for the movement of his arm, a cutout was made in the armor, covering it with a "blister", which remained on production vehicles.
The combat check was not long in coming - the experience of using the new CAO in Afghanistan quickly made Nona a favorite in the Airborne Forces. Moreover, it has become a weapon of regimental artillery, "close" to the units directly conducting the battle. And the base chassis, unified with the BTR-D, characterized by high mobility, made it possible to quickly withdraw guns to firing positions in difficult mountain conditions. Later, "Nona-S" entered the Marine Corps as well - fortunately, it retained the buoyancy of the base vehicle.
Together with the self-propelled one, as it should be, a towed version of the gun with the same ammunition was created, which entered service with the Ground Forces in 1986 under the designation 2B16 "Nona-K" very euphonic). The ground forces, evaluating the results of the use of "Nona-S" in the Airborne Forces, ordered a self-propelled version, but on its own unified chassis of the BTR-80, and in 1990 the CAO 2S23 "Nona-SVK" appeared.
Time passed, and for the new modernization of the 2S9 (2S9-1) a set of measures was prepared, including: the installation of two new systems - the inertial orientation system of the barrel bore (installed on the swinging part of the gun) and the space navigation system (mounted in the tower), the introduction of an odometric navigation system with improved accuracy characteristics, telecode communication equipment. The space navigation system should carry out the topographic positioning of the weapon using the signals of the domestic GLONASS satellite system. True, in the tests in 2006 of the modernized "Nona-S" (2S9-1M), the signals of the commercial channel of the GPS system were used - an order of magnitude inferior in accuracy to the closed channel. But even so, the gun opened fire to kill at an unplanned target 30-50 seconds after taking a firing position - significantly less than 5-7 minutes required for the same 2S9 gun. SAO 2S9-1M also received a powerful onboard computer, which allows it to operate in an autonomous mode, regardless of the reconnaissance and fire control point of the battery. In addition to the effectiveness of hitting the main targets, all this allows increasing the survivability of the gun on the battlefield, since now it is possible to disperse the guns on the firing positions without prejudice to the performance of firing missions. The gun itself will not be able to linger in one firing position and more quickly perform a maneuver to evade an enemy strike. By the way, the "Nona" now also has a heater, future crews will definitely like it. Although, perhaps, an air conditioner would also be useful.
120-mm rifled breech-loading mortar 2B-23 "Nona-M1" in loading position
"None-S" had a chance to compete with foreign systems. Former commander of the airborne artillery, Major General A. V. Grekhnev, in his memoirs, spoke about the competition in the form of joint live firings conducted in June 1997 by gunners of the American 1st Armored Division and the Russian separate airborne brigade, which were part of the peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although the rivals were in different "weight categories" (from the Americans - 155-mm M109A2 howitzers of divisional artillery, from the Russians - 120-mm 2S9 guns of the regimental artillery), the Russian paratroopers "shot" the Americans for all assigned tasks. It's nice, but from the details of the story, it can be assumed that the Americans are not yet fully using the capabilities of their guns (battery commanders, for example, cannot aim at the target without receiving accurate data from the senior commander), our gunners, due to training and combat experience, are squeezing out of their weapons everything possible.
Back in the 1980s, on the basis of the research work of TsNIITOCHMASH, the development of a new 120-mm automated universal CAO began. Through the efforts of the same FSUE TsNIITOCHMASH and Perm OJSC Motovilikhinskiye Zavody, by 1996, a 120-mm CAO was created, which received the index 2S31 and the code "Vena", using the chassis of the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle. The main difference between the artillery unit was the elongated barrel, which made it possible to improve the ballistic characteristics, the firing range of the high-explosive fragmentation projectile increased to 13, and the active-rocket projectile - up to 14 kilometers. Refinement of the bolt group (which also touched the "Nona") made it possible to increase safety and simplify the maintenance of the gun. In addition to the improved artillery unit, "Vienna" is distinguished by a high degree of automation. The cannon computer complex based on an onboard computer provides control of the operation of the CAO in an automated cycle - from receiving a command via a telecode channel to automatically pointing the gun horizontally and vertically, restoring the aiming after a shot, issuing commands and prompts to the indicators of the crew members, automatic guidance control. There are systems for automatic topographic reference and orientation and optical-electronic reconnaissance and target designation (with day and night channels). The laser target designator-rangefinder allows you to accurately determine the distance to the target and autonomously fire guided projectiles. However, traditional methods of aiming "manually" are also possible - combat experience has shown that one cannot do without them. The heavier chassis made it possible to increase the ammunition load to 70 rounds. Measures have been taken to quickly damp body vibrations after a shot - this allows you to quickly make several aimed shots with one sight mount.
At the same time, through the efforts of GNPP "Bazalt" and TSNIITOCHMASH, new 120-mm ammunition was created, that is, the entire complex was improved. In particular, a high-explosive fragmentation projectile of thermobaric equipment with a significantly increased high-explosive effect was developed: for this, a more uniform crushing of the hull was implemented (due to the use of a new material) and the speed of the fragments dispersion was increased to 2500 m / s. A shot with a cluster projectile equipped with 30 HEAT-fragmentation submunitions has also been developed. This ammunition can be used in the "Vienna" and "Nona" guns.
"Vienna" - the basis for further expansion of the family of 120-mm universal guns. In parallel with the creation of the CAO for the Ground Forces, work was carried out on a theme with the funny name "Compression" on a similar CAO for the Airborne Forces using the BMD-3 chassis. More precisely, we are talking about a new cannon artillery system of the Airborne Forces, which consists of an automated 120-mm CAO, with ballistics and ammunition similar to the CAO "Vienna"; commander's CAO ("Compression-K"); reconnaissance and automated fire control point; artillery and instrumental reconnaissance point. But the fate of "Compression" is still unclear. As well as the towed version of the "Vienna".
Other countries also became interested in universal tools. In particular, the Chinese corporation NORINCO recently unveiled a 120-mm rifled "mortar howitzer" - an actual copy of the Nona gun. It is not in vain, as you can see, that the Chinese experts have previously made so much effort to study "Nona" as detailed as possible.
What about mortars?
Quite recently, already in 2007, the Nona family was replenished with one more member. This is a 120-mm towed breech-loading mortar 2B-23 "Nona-M1". The circle has closed - once the family itself became a continuation of work on a rifled mortar. The history of its appearance is curious. In 2004, several options for reinforcement for airborne units were tested. The Tulyaks proposed a multiple launch rocket system with unguided 80-mm S-8 rockets on the BTR-D chassis. Nizhny Novgorod Central Research Institute "Burevestnik" - a transportable 82-mm mortar on the same BTR-D, and TSNIITOCHMASH - a towed mortar "Nona-M1". The latter attracted attention not only for its efficiency, but also for its size and comparative cheapness. And the large stocks of 120-mm mines against the background of the sharply deteriorating situation in the 1990s with the production of shells (including shells for the Nona guns) were not the last reason for active interest in mortars. Among the characteristic features of the Nona-M1 mortar are the automatic unlocking of the bore after firing and bringing the barrel and bolt group to the loading position, variable wheel travel, allowing it to be towed behind various tractors. Although in comparison with smooth-bore muzzle-loading mortars of the same caliber, it looks more cumbersome.
Experimental installation RUAG 120-mm muzzle-loading mortar on the chassis of the armored vehicle "Piranha" 8x8, Switzerland
Abroad, a new wave of interest in 120-mm mortar complexes revived the French MO-120-RT (F.1) rifled mortar. Of course, he was not in the corral; he honestly served both in France itself and in Norway, Japan, and Turkey. But at the turn of the century, the French company "Thomson" DASA introduced to the market its development - the 2R2M mortar (Rifle Recoiled, Mounted Mortar, that is, a rifled mortar with recoil devices for installation on a carrier) - at first as the basis of a self-propelled complex on a wheeled or tracked chassis. A mortar with a firing range of a conventional mine of up to 8, 2, and an active reactive one - up to 13 kilometers, retained the muzzle-loading scheme and, in order not to force the gunner to protrude out of the car, is equipped with … a hydraulic lift and a tray for raising the shot and ramming it into the barrel. In 2000, TDA introduced a towed version as well. 2R2M can be used as an automated, remotely controlled complex. It became the basis of the Dragonfire mortar program for the US Marine Corps, and it is also planned to use both rifled shells and feathered mines for firing here. The tractor variant is a light jeep "Grauler", which, unlike the army HMMWV, together with a mortar, crew and ammunition load can be transferred by an MV-22 vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
At the same time, a self-propelled NLOS-M complex of the same 120 mm caliber, but with a breech-loading mortar in a rotary armored tower on a well-armored tracked chassis, is being developed for the US Army.
Two different self-propelled mortar complexes of the same caliber for different conditions of use were launched into development in Germany. One is a 120-mm muzzle-loading mortar on the chassis of the Wiesel-2 combat landing vehicle - where the artillery unit is mounted openly at the rear of the vehicle, but loading is done from inside the hull. The other is a 120-mm mortar in a turret mounted on an infantry fighting vehicle chassis.
The turret installation of breech-loading mortars with circular fire and a wide range of elevation angles has been of interest since the late 1980s (the Soviet "Nona-S" was noticeably ahead of foreign developments here). They replace the simple installation of a mortar in the hull of an armored vehicle with a large hatch in the roof of the hull. Among other advantages of the tower installation, a sharp decrease in the impact on the crew of the shock wave of the shot is also called. Earlier, in a number of NATO countries, they managed to limit the number of shots of an openly installed mortar to 20 shots per day "according to environmental standards". Certainly not for combat conditions. In battle, a trained crew spends so many shots in one or two minutes. With the transition to a turret scheme, it was "allowed" to fire more than 500 rounds per day.
The British company Royal Ordnance, together with Delco, presented in 1986 an "armored mortar system" AMS with a 120-mm breech-loading mortar in a turret with a firing range of up to 9 kilometers. At the same time, among the requirements for a self-propelled mortar was the possibility of transportation by aircraft of the C-130J type. This system on the Piranha chassis (8x8) was purchased by Saudi Arabia.
The original version was presented in 2000 by the Finnish-Swedish company "PatriaHegglunds" - a double-barreled 120-mm AMOS mortar gun with a firing range of up to 13 kilometers. A double-barreled installation with an automatic loader allows you to develop a rate of fire up to 26 rounds per minute in a short time, and the self-propelled chassis allows you to quickly leave the position. The tower is placed on the tracked chassis of the BMP CV-90 or wheeled XA-185. There is also a light single-barreled version of the "Nemo" (ordered by Slovenia). At the turn of the 80s-90s of the XX century, installations with a large number of barrels were also offered - for example, the Austrian 120-mm four-barreled SM-4 on the chassis of the Unimog car. But such "self-propelled batteries" have not received development. And in general, mortars are the most alive of all living things.
