General Dynamics and BAE Systems Team to Develop Affordable ‘Smart’ 81mm Mortar Round

The world’s first pre­ci­sion 81mm guid­ed mor­tar round

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Gen­er­al Dynam­ics Ord­nance and Tac­ti­cal Sys­tems and BAE Sys­tems have teamed to devel­op, demon­strate and pro­duce the 81mm Roll Con­trolled Guid­ed Mor­tar (RCGM), an afford­able 81mm pre­ci­sion mor­tar round. 

The com­pa­nies have been matur­ing the guid­ed mor­tar tech­nol­o­gy over the last 12 months and will be con­duct­ing tac­ti­cal demon­stra­tions ear­ly in 2012.
The team­ing arrange­ment between Gen­er­al Dynam­ics Ord­nance and Tac­ti­cal Sys­tems, a busi­ness unit of Gen­er­al Dynam­ics (NYSE: GD), and BAE Sys­tems’ Muni­tions busi­ness, will lever­age their respec­tive strengths to pro­vide a low-cost, high­ly afford­able, pre­ci­sion mor­tar. The 81mm RCGM uses the cur­rent UK L41 round and US M734A1 fuze, but incor­po­rates GPS guid­ance and Gen­er­al Dynam­ics’ patent­ed Roll Con­trolled Fixed Canard (RCFC) tech­nol­o­gy to pro­vide a pre­ci­sion strike capability.

RCGM will put, for the first time, a low-cost indi­rect pre­ci­sion sys­tem into the hands of the front-line sol­dier, dra­mat­i­cal­ly increas­ing his com­bat effec­tive­ness,” said Ian Ander­ton, man­ag­ing direc­tor of BAE Sys­tems’ Muni­tions busi­ness. “The system’s increased accu­ra­cy will help bring effec­tive fire on tar­get quick­er and the reduced num­ber of rounds required for a typ­i­cal mis­sion will mean an approx­i­mate 30 per­cent reduc­tion in logis­tics demands – an impor­tant con­sid­er­a­tion at the end of extend­ed sup­ply lines in theater.”

Michael Wil­son, Pres­i­dent of Gen­er­al Dynam­ics Ord­nance and Tac­ti­cal Sys­tems said, “Our team­ing with BAE Sys­tems will pro­vide the infantry with a light­weight, portable, pre­ci­sion strike capa­bil­i­ty based on Gen­er­al Dynam­ics’ inno­v­a­tive Roll Con­trol Guid­ed Mor­tar tech­nol­o­gy. By using exist­ing war­heads and fuz­ing with our low-cost con­trol and guid­ance sys­tem, we can offer a tru­ly afford­able pre­ci­sion mor­tar round to the US, UK and allies across the world.”

For more infor­ma­tion about Gen­er­al Dynam­ics Ord­nance and Tac­ti­cal Sys­tems, please vis­it www.gd-ots.com.

For more infor­ma­tion about BAE Sys­tems’ Muni­tions busi­ness go to http://www.baesystems.com/Capabilities/Land/Munitions/index.htm.

For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:

Lau­rie Van­Brock­lin, Gen­er­al Dynam­ics
Tel: 727 578 8187
Cell: 727 204 1355
lgvanbrocklin@gd-ots.com

Team GlobDef

Seit 2001 ist GlobalDefence.net im Internet unterwegs, um mit eigenen Analysen, interessanten Kooperationen und umfassenden Informationen für einen spannenden Überblick der Weltlage zu sorgen. GlobalDefence.net war dabei die erste deutschsprachige Internetseite, die mit dem Schwerpunkt Sicherheitspolitik außerhalb von Hochschulen oder Instituten aufgetreten ist.

Alle Beiträge ansehen von Team GlobDef →