mr.fred wrote: ↑05 May 2022, 09:57
If anything, the 120mm mortar is more vulnerable to counter battery on account of its somewhat shorter range. The solution to this of just having more seems both callous and financially questionable.
Having dumb, bespoke ammunition is a problem if you intend to import your materiel. If you aim at making your own anyway then it’s less of an issue. In any case you can get course correcting fuses for 105mm but tube artillery isn’t really for delivering precision munitions anyway. There’s a whole bunch of missiles available for that.
Low ammunition is a benefit for light forces. Plus the light gun is for light forces. If you stack them up against heavy forces they’re going to come off poorly.
Not ideal for infantry? it’s an artillery piece? It’s for artillery.
A 120mm mortar isn’t ideal for infantry because it’s not practical without vehicles.
I may have not been clear but my proposal for replacing the Light Gun was to equip Infantry of all types with a 120mm Mortar and allocate the hopefully wheeled 155mm as their Artillery support.
As for ammunition, though unlikely it would be interesting to see how many rounds of 105mm ammunition we have for the guns and of what type. A 120mm Mortar is far lighter then the Light Gun and far quicker to bring into and out of action, especially if you use a "Cradle" for transport if towing it. But for 16AA, its use of UGVs to support its support weapons, means even they can operate a 120mm with little difficulty. I have suggested retaining a number of 81mm mortars for specialised missions though.
Depending on which wheeled platform could be chosen, all can be flown in to any location by the C-17 and most by the A400, and the same would go for HIMARS. The fact that there are precision AT rounds as well as dispensing rounds for the 120mm adds more capability to the Battalion. But the use of a towed weapon like Extractor or a similar weapon such as Brimstone would be a useful addition to the Battalion as well.
The 105mm has been a good weapon, actually still is but it is now in a sort of middle grounds between light larger calibre Mortars and 155mm guns that are far superior and getting more and more deployable.
This discussion will undoubtedly go on and on between two opposing views but I will bow out as I am not looking to replace the 105mm Light Gun directly, but as said above by using two different weapons to five light forces especially greater fire support. Therefore I am more interested in the latter than the former.