It happened last year in Cesano, near Rome, during an international exercise. I was visiting some booths of companies attending the event when I came across a medium that twenty-five years ago I had only been able to dream: a "VBM Freccia Porta-Mortaio" (see video).
An armored vehicle with a piece of artillery inside is not the typical desire of a boy of 20 years, but I was a complementary officer and I had received a particular specialization: 120 mm mortar on a M106 vehicle. We are talking about a tracked vehicle that combines the discrete mobility of the well known M113, a armored transport vehicle designed in the fifties, to the power of a mortar 120 mm, a weapon capable of annihilating the enemy at six and a half kilometers of distance.
The formula was winning but had operational limits, first of all the time needed to precisely beat a goal: we arrived in position, manually opened the door of the vehicle, in a few minutes you could process the coordinates transmitted (voice and via radio) from the observer, or the soldier who had the objective in view, and at that point the first shot could be fired.
Then the adjustment took place: after having understood the target between two shots, the so-called "fork", the correct shooting data could be obtained with a good approximation to hit the target. The fire was then opened with the whole array of weapons (a platoon mortars also had four pieces in addition to the command post).
Why then was the weather the problem? Because at every stroke the mortar moved, going "out of the bubble" and it had to be corrected. A higher accuracy could then derive from the calculation of variables such as altitude, pressure, temperature and wind. They were calculations made by human beings, with Spartan means like maps, lattices and tables, not computers ...
What did I imagine then? I was hoping, for example, that the cadence and accuracy of shooting could be improved with "self-leveling" guns.
Today the weapon system that I had lived with the rustic M106 holder has evolved into a platform that leaves open operational horizons, perhaps still to be discovered.
The VCM Freccia AMC carrier mortar
The Italian Defense has, to date, purchased 20 vehicles in two tranches: the first from 12, the second from 8. When the last vehicle is delivered, both will be integrated into the latest version of the SICCONA (Control and Control System) and equipped with the Hitrole turret (12,7 mm, 7,62 mm or grenade launcher from 40 mm). The crew is made up of 5 members: pilot, boss, marconist and 2 mortar staff.
But let's go back to the previous comparison and evaluate the platform on which the weapon is mounted. From the M106 to the VBM, we pass from a tracked to a modern wheeled one that substantially doubles the on / off road performance, including autonomy (over 800 kilometers). There is also a clear qualitative leap in ballistic protection. And those who have experienced the M113 will remember with a shudder the rumors about the vulnerability at 7,62mm, even if in Nato caliber ...
The mortar on board
The Italian Army has adopted a bullet for years that has doubled its performance in terms of range. We have thus moved from a smooth-bore mortar to a striped mortar, the Thomson-Brandt TR61 from 120 mm, which reaches targets at 12,8 kilometers. The same rod is now the protagonist of the TDA system (Thales Defense Armement) from 120 mm 2R2M.
In position the VBM AMC Arrow in a few moments it is able to fire quickly and accurately. Operators on board need only enter the coordinates received in a computer and place the projectile (with the additional launch charges indicated by the system) in the "spoon" (the loading sled). Introduction of the bomb in the carriage and positioning of the mouth by fire are automatic.
Thanks to an inertial platform no correction between a shot and the other is necessary to "re-level".
As soon as the grenade saves, the vehicle can quickly move to avoid a counter-battery fire and resume the target in a few minutes.
All this would be sufficient in itself to ignite enthusiasm, however we live in times of revolutions in the military world and the generational leap must open our eyes to new potential ...
Two words: digitalization and net-centricization
If the limit in understanding platforms such as the F-35 is to be overcome in assessing the sky, the same must be done on the ground.
A modern weapon is not an instrument in itself, it is a part of a "System" that can greatly amplify its potential.
An example: the VBM holder it is already now able to respond to one fire request transmitted by an observer on the ground through a simple laser pointer, but also by a Lince or by his brother "Explorer", the version of the Exploring VBM by reconnaissance and surveillance. The "traditional" procedure is still on the radio for security reasons, although this could already reduce the time of action by digitally transmitting the coordinates!
The times of "RE-action"?
Online Defense has just returned from a war theater, the Syrian one, in which thousands of anti-tank / anti-personnel missiles have flowed in the last two years. We can say that what he represented was Stinger in Afghanistan, the TOW in Syria has been in the last two years. So many have arrived that are used to eliminate even "low paying" targets as simple sentinels.
The TOW has provided an advantage: the tanks, mostly old T-55 and T-72 have a useful shot that varies between 2 and 4 kilometers (those updated in the past decades by our country) while precision and range of action of wire-guided missiles are superior. Just go and see the videos posted by the rebels on YouTube to check it out ...
When I met a general at the Syrian Ministry of Defense I could not resist asking what were the countermeasures taken to counter the TOW threat.
"Well ..., we monitor all the possible launch zones around the garrisons ... We try to prevent the arrival of terrorists in those positions ... We are working on it. Don't you think we haven't taken countermeasures? !!! ".
The answer, a bit 'embarrassed, a bit' evasive seemed to me eloquent and exhaustive.
At that moment I thought of the Mortar Door as an integrated element in a defense system. There are tactical sensors that can detect missiles, grenades and even small-caliber projectiles.
Do you begin to understand what it means? It means that there are already available protective equipment, to defend a military base (to give an example), which bring the self-protection capability from a few meters to 13 kilometers with assisted munition (8 with traditional ammunition) as a counter-battery shot.
We need to think in modern terms. The figure of the observer relatively close to a target is possible but outdated. The coordinates can be calculated from the computer of a system that detects an attack and calculates the starting point of a bomb or a bullet, but also from a simple drone and, why not, soon even from the much criticized F-35. It will be those who see the objective (even a satellite!) To then carry out the eventual "adjustment of the shot".
Recently the Centaur 2 (see video), the most advanced version (under development) of the most famous anti-tank wheel in the world. Well (this we tell because it is confirmed in an informal way) the firearm and the machine gun could also be managed remotely!
The importance of having a platoon of Centaur 2 e VBM Mortar Door connected in an integrated defense system is easy to understand even for non-professionals. It means having weapons capable of intervening from a few meters, up to 13 kilometers away with instant reaction times. It means canceling or at least significantly reducing threats such as those represented by missiles that will inevitably be increasingly present in operating theaters.
(images: Iveco Consortium - Oto Melara / web)
