USMC developing new mortar for Expeditionary Fire Support System

The US Marine Corps (USMC) is moving forward with plans to increase the range and accuracy of its 120 mm Expeditionary Fire Support System (EFSS) by developing a new mortar round.

1340094The USMC's ITV, also known as the Light Strike Vehicle, can also be used beyond the EFSS mission profile. It is shown here providing security and over-watch during a training exercise. (US Marine Corps)

The Precision Extended Range Munition (PERM), to be used with the EFSS' M327 rifled towed mortar, is being developed as an extended-range precision-guided round that could provide accuracy of within at least 20 m at ranges around 17 km.

Contracts for PERM's 24-month engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase were awarded to Raytheon teamed with Israel Military Industries, as well as to ATK teamed with EFSS' lead contractor General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GD-OTS).

Raytheon announced its contract on 22 January 2013 and ATK revealed its contract on 13 December 2012.

The vendors are to design, develop, test, and deliver production-representative mortars for a USMC live-fire demonstration within 18 months, Raytheon said in a statement.

Michael Means, the company's business development lead for PERM, told IHS Jane's that the new rounds expand EFSS' family of mortars and "adds range and accuracy", which means that the system could be able to accomplish fires missions with less ammunition.

The current rounds have ranges up to 8 km, whereas PERM could accurately reach out as far as 17 km.

Means expected a competitive shoot-off around mid-2014, followed by an evaluation and a downselect to one vendor.

He could not provide detail of Raytheon's PERM design for competitive reasons, but Means said it would leverage the company's design experience on its precision-guided 155 mm Excalibur rounds.

Meanwhile, ATK, which has competed on the Excalibur programme and other 155 mm precision-guidance efforts, said its PERM offering "combines ATK's patented and operationally proven precision-guidance fuze technology with the GD-OTS extended-range rifled mortar energetic subsystems developed during the PERM Technical Demonstration programme".

A decision for PERM's production is projected for some time in late 2014, but EFSS units have deployed with marines since 2009.

EFSS is a highly mobile indirect fires system that is designed to support the vertical assault element of a ship-to-objective-manoeuvre force. It is the lightest and most deployable of the USMC's so-called fires triad, which includes the medium-range 155 mm M777 towed howitzer and the long-range High Mobility Artillery Rocket System.

The EFSS consists of a 120 mm rifled towed mortar, a family of ammunition, an ammunition trailer, and an Internally Transportable Vehicle (ITV).

The mortar is based on the French TDA MO 120 RT 120 mm rifled towed mortar, although it has been modified to fit inside V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and meet US safety standards. Accordingly, the mortar's wheels rotate inward, brakes were added, and the system has been calibrated with US sighting equipment.

EFSS gear, including the ITV, is designed to be transported by the Osprey aircraft, but is also capable of flying in CH-53 and MH-47 helicopters, as well as in larger fixed-wing aircraft.

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