US Military Mortars Explained

There’s nothing a dug in enemy fears more than the sound of mortars landing nearby.
Mortars provide indirect fire, granting much-needed fire support at close to medium ranges with their high-angle, arching trajectory, and they can attack enemy troops that are dug-in or behind cover, or lay smoke screens, blocking enemy visibility.
Light mortars like the M224, which was used extensively by U.S. troops in the war in Afghanistan, provide soldiers with extra power, but have a shorter range and lower explosive charges than bigger ones, with each round weighing in at 4lbs.
Medium mortars include the 98 lb M29A1 and the 93 lb M252. Both are light enough to be carried over long distances and can be broken down into smaller loads, and their rounds weigh about 15 lbs each.
Long-range, heavy mortars like the M30 and the upgraded M120 are so heavy that they require trucks for transportation. But getting these heavy weapons to the battlefield is worth it, since the M120 can fire its 30 lb high explosive rounds over 7,000 meters.

[ltcmdrtobyfox]

I just love when the dust on the ground rises slightly when the heavy morter fires. Very cinematic.

[alexisrodriguez]

Artillery is the equivalent of "to whom it may concern"

[hughduncan]

Indirect fire scares the shit out of me. Just being able to casually kill 20 guys from 50km away is fucked

[thisaccountnameiscompletel]

I love how modern warfare is now composed of drone coordinated strikes that can be orchestrated by people on the other side of the planet and carried out before you have a chance to duck.

[Jägermeister_ndArmoured]

Remember, That hearing loss isn't service related

[carsondilday]

By the way, the blue coloration of those mortars means theyre practice dummies

[ShiraIshikawa]

When someone explain things in lbs but then also explain in meters, my brain just went liters

[lunchbox]

Thanks for circling them. I never would've found them on my own.

[ootmasterthegod]

There’s nothing a dug in enemy bunker fears more than the sound of mortars:A-10 warthog am I a joke to you

[charlesncharge]

This 11B always appreciated our 11Cs. Even if they don't obliterate the enemy they'll damn sure make him put his head down so we can maneuver on him.

[michaelpatterson]

I'll tell you what man.. it truly is scary when u get incoming rounds landing all over ur FOB bc u never kn exactly where they're gonna land but u can usually hear them coming in.. so u best bet is to assume they have your structures zero'd or ur gun emplacements.. so we always tried to stay a decent distance from the structures but close enough so we still had cover from if we had too and the weapons emplacements u have to man reguardless to find and suppress/elimnate them unless it's truck.. I felt safe there, a direct hatch hit was the only thing we feared there and we could get in a effectively return fire bc the cover was pretty good along with it being armored however they are the primary targets bc they're the most effective opposition to the opposing. Force so they become bullet magnets

[murraycrichton]

Actually hearing them land near by is fine, it's when you don't hear them...

[GeneraIKurt]

Mortars are kinda underrated. As far as I know, its basically a small artillery piece carried around on foot. Even only 3-5 men can bring one up and operate it with a good amount of shells taken with them

[FlamingNava]

You dont know how far 7k meters really is until you have to run it in a cross country event

[GrayMattr]

Former 11C Army mortarman here an I’ve sent mortars in Iraq and have also had to hit the ground flat with my hands over my head as enemy mortar fire came in an he’s right the sound of mortars zooming in over your head is pretty wild.

[sparxthedog]

Who else here that one Italian song when you hear mortar


"When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie thats-a mortar

[everetteclark]

Nothing better in the battle for Fallujah when those 120s came in a wrecked shop. Saved my ass love you guys.

[JewelzFin]

I miss my 11C friends. They were weird af. But pretty cool on the weekends. We actually had a Company of 19D, 11B and 11C who all got along pretty good.

[shmodzilla]

Ok, about a million "how do you aim " comments. The light version. When you place the gun, your fire direction control gives you a direction of fire which is general, almost like sighting a gun. Then we place two "aiming poles" in front of the gun. After that the FDC "fire direction has us shot a round, adjust until well basically the guns sighted in. The sight has 6400 mils of dirextion to turn. So now when theres a target, the fdc "or us" can use this tool called commonly "whiz wheel" to deternin that number, the distance is easy. Theres a charge book it will say something like "1360 meters " charge 2 and 1100 mils elevation"
The FDC will then usualky say "one round and adjust" so we fire a round. If it needs adjustinv theyll say such as :drop fifty, fire for effect"
Mortars can also be used direct fire by looking through the sight if the enemy is visible. The 60mm had a hand held, trigger fired mode for chatge zero and charge one elevation bubbles built in. Charge 2 and above just starts to break hands if you held onto it. Most FDC is by computer now though.

[WoFDarkNewton]

I barely played Battlefield but when I did, I loved using mortars