In Finland under 81mm mortars are mini, 81mm is light and 120mm is heavymr.fred wrote:I'm minded to disagree, to an extent. A 60mm mortar operated as a direct-fire weapon does not overlap with an 81mm weapon used as an indirect observed-fire weapon. Moreover, if a 60 is light and a 120 is heavy, then an 81 is medium, not a light.jimthelad wrote:Yes but only makes sense if we move to the 120 mm mortar for Coy, Bn, and mechanised units and issue this at Plt level as a 2 man fire team attached to the standard 3 x 8 +4 Plt from the heavy support coy. Otherwise we have 2 light mortars (81mm , 60mm) with overlapping roles. Also, if we switch to CG then it is heavier, less versatile, and has a higher logistical footprint.
What you could do with a 60mm weapon that can be used as an indirect weapon is issue it to units where weight of logistics is critical but weight of fire is less so. Something like a peace-keeping operation over a wide area that still needs some indirect firepower deployed with the infantry to project smoke and illum and the occasional HE bomb.
60mm and the ammunition to go with it might be overly heavy as a platoon weapon (and definitely not a section weapon per the thread title) but the ability to project smoke and illum (and a bit of HE) to rifle range and beyond isn't a bad thing.
Plus a mortar has a much smaller firing signature than a recoilless rifle.
All mortars can be used in what is called assisted direct fire. This is a method to fire a mortar from behind a cover to a target without FOs. 60mm is its best in assisted direct fire role. I won't go into details but it's an easy method. Nothing fancy or difficult about it. 66 LAW as anti-TANK weapon might be obsolete but not as anti-ARMOR weapon.
81mm is, as stated above, most effective against INFANTRY per tonne of ammunition of all indirect fire weapons. What you need is to step up your game and set up mortar companies, platoons are so 1964. This enables better autonomy.
No mortar should operate without vehicles. You just can't tranport enough ammo even if the mortar itself can be carried, or then you're not fighting a real enemy but some ragtags. ATV is the bare minimum for even light mortars.