It's time for a direct fire breech-loaded mortar.

• Author: Oberholtzer, William I.
• Position: VIEWPOINT

After a decade of fighting against the United States and its allies, enemies have become increasingly elusive and adaptable.

The United States faces a kaleidoscope of enemy combatants from all over the world having a common thread of unbridled savagery and brutality. Like a cancer, this threat is metastasizing. At present, the armed conflict is centered in the Middle East. Current weapon systems are ideally suited for the European theater, and to a lesser degree, mountainous terrain. Conflict in urban environments does not lend itself to the application of many of these systems.

More often than not, U.S. forces engage in a street-by-street, building-by-building, slugfest with an enemy who is not the least reluctant to position themselves in schools, mosques and among non-combatants. Large crew-served and aerial-delivered munitions tend to obliterate targets and cause significant collateral damage. What is needed are weapons that are effective against brick and masonry without collapsing entire structures.

A much maligned and underappreciated weapon is the mortar. Military planners and war fighters tend to be enamored with high tech weapon systems and fail to recognize the potential of a tried and true weapon that has been around since before the Civil War. While high tech weapon systems have their place on the battlefield, they are expensive and should be used for high value targets. It is universally accepted that the mortar is an indirect fire weapon.

However, few are aware that the mortar can also be utilized in a direct fire roll. When mounted on a lightweight mortar carrier and firing high explosive fin-stabilized, shallow coned shape charge--high explosive squash head--munitions, the mortar can have a devastating effect on brick and masonry walls. What once provided cover and concealment to the enemy now becomes a lethal, casualty producing, spall. The devastation can be localized without bringing down entire structures.

The secret to employing the mortar in the direct fire mode is the incorporation of a breech block and a pivoting base rather than the traditional base plate. The breach block and pivoting base plate allow the mortar to be used in the traditional muzzle-loaded role using conventional munitions, or in the breech-loaded direct fire mode using specialized munitions.

The concept of using a mortar in, both, an indirect fire and a direct fire mode had its advent during World War II when the Swiss developed a 105mm...