DVD 2024 – Babcock teams with ST Engineering, to offer 120 mm mortar to the UK
Babcock has teamed up with ST Engineering from Singapore to offer a vehicle-mounted 120 mm mortar to the British Army, it was shown mounted on a Coyote 6×6 reconnaissance on the 18th September during the Defence Vehicles Dynamics (DVD) event in the UK. The system has been developed in a bid to meet a perceived requirement in the UK for a lightweight and mobile indirect fires system
“There is no formal requirement at the moment, but we understand that the Army is looking to procure a system that can replace the L119 105 mm light gun,” Holly Shuttleworth, Babcock’s Head of Fires Programmes told EDR On-Line on the 19th September. “We have partnered with ST Engineering to onshore production of the system and bring the tech to the UK,” she added. Within the team, Babcock is the prime and the systems integrator, with ST Engineering as the mortar design authority, and the UK’s Perfect Bore positioned to potentially manufacture the 120 mm barrels in the UK. At DVD, the system was integrated onto an NP Aerospace Coyote 6×6 reconnaissance platform, which was mainly to demonstrate the concept.
A demonstration firing is planned for November, where the system will be fitted to a 4×4 Jackal, instead of the Coyote. “This will demonstrate that the system is compatible with lighter platforms to meet user requirements,” Shuttleworth explained.
“We will manufacture the systems in our Devonport facility, which will position us for future export opportunities, too,” Shuttleworth added. “We expect there to be a need for 200 to 250 systems, and we could produce them quite quickly when the requirement eventually published,” she said. A key feature, as with all UK programmes, is localisation of the supply chain, Babcock is aiming for at least 60% of the mortar system coming from a UK Supply Chain.
There is potential for the barrel to be manufactured by family-owned business, Perfect Bore. “We are working to bring a full suite or mortar barrel manufacturing capabilities back to the UK,” a representative for the Laughton family, which owns Perfect Bore told EDR On-Line on the 20th of September.
The company has already successfully manufactured the 60 mm Hirtenberger commando mortar, a type that is in service with the British Army. If the 120 mm mortar system is procured, then Perfect Bore would only need to onshore production of the 81 mm mortar to be able to cover all of the British Army’s needs.
The system itself employs the ST Engineering mortar cradle, which deploys the mortar to the rear of the vehicle with a base plate and recoil mechanism. The entire into- and out-of-action process takes less than 20 seconds, and it is linked to a fire control system, although if and when the system enters service, “it will be required to digitalised as per the British Army’s requirements and connected with its other battle management systems,” Stewart Gould, the Head of Systems Integration at Babcock explained.
The configuration presented at DVD was able to fire between 10 and 15 rounds per minute with a crew of 2-3. It is manually loaded and can be drop- or lanyard-fired, and the Coyote was able to carry 48 rounds, although this was really a result of the vehicle’s capacity, Gould said.
The British Army is moving towards 120 mm mortars as its close fire support system. The rounds can provide considerable lethality and logistics advantages over other indirect fire options. However, much will depend on the current Strategic Defence Review, and the procurement decisions that follow from that process.
Photos by S. Cranny-Evans
