The 2R2M (''Rifled Recoiled Mounted Mortar'') is a vehicle-mounted, rifled 120 mm heavy mortar produced by

Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded ...

of France. It is derived from the MO-120-RT towed mortar. The 2R2M is in service with 5 nations. The

US Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through co ...

field-tested a mortar system derived from the 2R2M in the early 2000's under the project names ''Dragon Fire'' and ''Dragon Fire II''. More than just an adaptation of the 2R2M system to the USMC's

LAV-25 The LAV-25 is a member of the LAV II family. It is an eight-wheeled amphibious armored reconnaissance vehicle built by General Dynamics Land Systems and used by the United States Marine Corps and the United States Army. History During the 1 ...

chassis, this project aimed for the added option to lift the entire weapon assembly, including the semi-automated loading mechanism and the computerised fire control system, out of the carrier vehicle and put it on a carriage to be towed by a tractor vehicle such as a

HMMWV The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV; colloquial: Humvee) is a family of light, four-wheel drive, military trucks and utility vehicles produced by AM General. It has largely supplanted the roles previously performed by the o ...

. The USMC eventually dropped the Dragon Fire II project and instead opted for the baseline MO-120-RT mortar, which it called the M327 mortar, towed by a M1161 Growler, for their EFSS (''Expeditionary Fire Support System'').

History (Dragon Fire II)

The US Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL) started a Concept Demonstrator project in 1997. They wanted a "mortar in a box," that is a weapon that could be remotely emplaced and fired unattended on a future battlefield. In late 1997, MCWL accepted a proposal by the army's Program Manager, Mortars (PM Mortars) and Armament Research, Development, and Engineering Command (ARDEC) at

Picatinny Arsenal The Picatinny Arsenal ( or ) is an American military research and manufacturing facility located on of land in Jefferson and Rockaway Township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, encompassing Picatinny Lake and Lake Denmark. The ...

, New Jersey to design and build a firing system to fulfill the design objectives. An early requirement was that the system had to be a 120mm system to give sufficient lethality and range. Ultimately, the design team picked parts of the French Thomson-Daimler Armements (TDA) experimental 2R2M mortar because it had a usable power driven traverse and

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § V ...

in addition to a loading system. Its 120mm rifled ammunition promised greater accuracy and range. The project completed the experimental weapon, now called the Dragon Fire, in 17 months. It was used in a series of firing experiments beginning in September 1998. During 1999–2002, the Dragon Fire was used during the Limited Object Experiment (LOE) Urban Warrior and several follow-on experiments, and the French-made 2R2M mortar mounted in a MOWAG Piranha vehicle served as a surrogate for a mobile, Light Armored Vehicle-mounted firing system. These experiments showed that the concept of automating the

fire control Fire control is the practice of reducing the heat output of a fire, reducing the area over which the fire exists, or suppressing or extinguishing the fire by depriving it of fuel, oxygen, or heat (see fire triangle). Fire prevention and contr ...

, aiming and loading of a medium-range firing system substantially reduced fire mission response times and resulted in accurate, efficient fire. Following successful testing, the Marine Corps initiated a Requirement Document for an Expeditionary Fire Support System (EFSS) to fill the gap in the availability of supporting fire for the initial air-delivered elements of an expeditionary operation. The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab initiated a follow-on project called Dragon Fire II, which was to be a government-designed, government-produced weapons system and it would incorporate the "lessons learned" with the first Dragon Fire. PM Mortars/ARDEC was again designated to do the design work and to modify the M95 Mortar

Fire Control System A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director, and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs the same task as a hu ...

(MFCS) to provide the advanced fire control and weapon control for the new system. The project was initiated in 2002, but, not long afterwards, TDA dropped out of the project because of issues concerning sharing of design information and their price, and when

Marine Corps Systems Command Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) is the acquisition command of the United States Marine Corps, made up of Marines, sailors, civilians and contractors. As the only systems command in the Marine Corps, MCSC serves as Head of Contracting Authority ...

made it known that it would be looking for an "off the shelf, commercial system" for the EFSS requirement, the system specifications for the Dragon Fire II were de-scoped to Concept Demonstrator and the budget was reduced. ARDEC contracted with General Dynamics to design the new electric actuators for elevation, traverse, loading and firing and despite some difficulties in that contract, the finished Dragon Fire II, now known as the XM-326 120mm Automated Mortar, was rolled out at

Rock Island Arsenal The Rock Island Arsenal comprises , located on Arsenal Island, originally known as Rock Island, on the Mississippi River between the cities of Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois. It lies within the state of Illinois. Rock Island ...

in September 2005. The new Dragon Fire II was half the weight of the first Dragon Fire, versus over . It was capable of receiving a fire mission over its on-board radio, processing the fire mission, aiming the weapon, loading and firing in any direction within 18 seconds. The Dragon Fire II was incorporated into testing with the Counter Rockets, Artillery, and Mortars (C-RAM) project while it was still undergoing engineering and safety tests at

Yuma Proving Ground Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) is a United States Army series of environmentally specific test centers with its Yuma Test Center being one of the largest military installations in the world. It is subordinate to the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Co ...

. It fired in support of C-RAM's demonstrations and was responsive and accurate, with most rounds landing within a

circular error probable In the military science of ballistics, circular error probable (CEP) (also circular error probability or circle of equal probability) is a measure of a weapon system's precision. It is defined as the radius of a circle, centered on the mean, ...

(CEP) of at a range of . During 2007, a Light Armored Vehicle was modified to accept the Dragon Fire internally as a modular artillery weapon. Over the next months opposition to the Dragon Fire II and to MCWL's involvement in long-term experimentation increased. Funding was first reduced and then cut completely. As a last attempt to use this system, it was converted to become a full-time LAV mortar system for the Marine Corps. This funding was removed in 2009 and the weapon is currently in storage at Picatinny Arsenal. It was proposed to develop a "fire on the move" capability for the Dragon Fire II - Light Armored Vehicle (LAV-M) as the first artillery system to fire accurately from the moving vehicle but the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab ended long-term development projects and all technology funding was cut.

Operation

The Dragon Fire mortar system can be deployed mounted in an

, towed by a

, or air deployed by

CH-53 Sea Stallion The CH-53 Sea Stallion (Sikorsky S-65) is an American family of heavy-lift transport helicopters designed and built by the American manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft. It was originally developed in response to a request from the United States ...

helicopter or

V-22 Osprey The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American multi-mission, tiltrotor military aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing ( VTOL) and short takeoff and landing ( STOL) capabilities. It is designed to combine the functionality of a conventi ...

. Fixing the weapon in an LAV does not require a separate mount; its towing carriage can be converted to an LAV mount in five minutes. After deployment, the crew can control the weapon system from a remote station. In operation, it is designed to be fully automatic: loading, computing firing solutions, aiming and firing automatically. From an unloaded condition, the weapon is capable of loading, completing a firing solution, aiming, and firing the first round within 18 seconds of receiving an order. The weapon is also capable of being operated manually in the event of failure of an automatic system. Because the Dragon Fire II contains its own GPS positioning system and pointing system (the Honeywell 5000HG Ring Laser Gyro) and on-board SINCGARS FM radio, it was also capable of controlling other like weapons, with the potential of one designated "Master Gun" controlling multiple other Dragon Fire Mortars in a synchronized manner. The advanced fire control system is fully compatible with the US Army system, to reduce the risk of

friendly fire In military terminology, friendly fire or fratricide is an attack by belligerent or neutral forces on friendly troops while attempting to attack enemy/hostile targets. Examples include misidentifying the target as hostile, cross-fire while en ...

(fratricide) incidents.

Types of rounds

The Dragon Fire system is designed to be able to use all

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

types of rifled and smoothbore 120 mm mortar ammunition. However, the USMC awarded Raytheon a contract to design, develop and demonstrate a new 120mm long-range, guided-mortar munition for use with the M327 mortar. The new Precision Extended Range Munition (PERM) is expected to be ready for a live-fire demonstration by the summer of 2015. The 120mm rifled mortar PERM round will give the EFSS a reach of , with a CEP of . The prototype PERM rounds have a GPS antenna and small fins, canards, that provide lift and extend the range of the weapon. The Marine Corps acquisition program performed a shoot-off of the prototype mortar rounds developed by

Raytheon Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitali ...

and ATK. In December 2015, the Marine Corps awarded a five-year contract to Raytheon Missile Systems to deliver about 4,300 rounds. Each round, weighing 16 kg (35 lbs) each, costs $18,000 each, about $16,000 more than the non-precision rounds. File:Dragon Fire II at the storage facility at MCB Quantico.jpg, The Dragon Fire II at Quantico File:Dragon Fire II LAV-M front view.jpg, The Dragon Fire II in its LAV-M configuration, 2009 File:Dragon Fire I firing at Yuma Proving Ground in 1999.jpg, The original Dragon Fire prototype, using the TDA (France) upper portion of the 2R2M mortar system. File:Dragon Fire II Being prepared for Engineering Tests.jpg, Dragon Fire II being set up for Engineering Tests, YPGForrest Lindsey Project Manager File:USMC-120129-M-EE799-013.jpg, USMC High explosive round showing rifling.

Current operators

*: Mounted on the VAB *: Mounted on the VAB and the Griffon MEPAC) *: Mounted on the

Freccia IFV The Freccia ( it, Arrow) is an Italian 8x8 wheeled Infantry fighting vehicle in use with the Italian Army. The first batch of 249 vehicles were ordered to replace Cold War VCC-2 armoured personnel carriers of the Mechanized Brigade "Pinerolo" in ...

*: Mounted on the

ACV-S The ACV-19 is an infantry fighting vehicle currently offered by FNSS Defence Systems of Turkey. The vehicle was previously known as the Armoured Combat Vehicle — Stretched. The ACV-19 is a further development of the ACV-15, which is d ...

and the AV8 Gempita *: Mounted on the M113

Notes

References

"Dragon Fire mortar system test successful", press release

Dragon Fire II fact sheet (PDF)

Dragon Fire II Experimental system NDIA briefing (PDF)

The Dragon Fire Experiments, Marine Corps Gazette 2009
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Mortars of the United States 120mm mortars United States Marine Corps projects