The Ministry of National Defense announced that on June 23, a meeting of the Army General Staff (GES) was held with representatives of the Israeli company Elbit Systems and the American Oshkosh Defense. The object of the meeting was the presentation of SPEAR Mk.2 120 mm self-propelled mortars on JLTV (Joint Light Tactical Vehicle). The SPEAR Mk.2 integration/certification work on the JLTV vehicle was completed in January 2022 and the SPEAR Mk.2 mortar was developed in 2017 and is an evolution of the SPEAR, which is the self-propelled version of the CARDOM mortar.
Compared to the SPEAR, the SPEAR Mk.2 incorporates a longer tube and significantly reduced recoil from 30+ tons to 12-15 tons, which allows the SPEAR Mk.2 to be incorporated into regular vehicles. At the customer’s option, the mortar can also incorporate a laser warning system for greater safety. Mortar order procedures are automatic. It requires a crew of 2-3 people and is ready to fire within 60 seconds of receiving the order. Its accuracy is aided by the provision of an integrated command and control and battle management system, target acquisition system and GPS/INS systems.
These means allow the mortar to operate autonomously. In addition, these means allow the mortar to be aware of the tactical situation and know the exact location of friendly and enemy forces. Thus, the possibility of offending friendly forces is drastically reduced, while this image can be transmitted to other friendly echelons. The maximum range of the SPEAR Mk.2 is 10 kilometers (with conventional ammunition), while the maximum rate of fire is 12-16 rounds per minute. The maximum continuous fire rate is 3-4 rounds for 10-20 minutes of continuous fire. With conventional ammunition the Probability of Round Error at maximum range is 30 meters.
It should be noted that the Hellenic Army (HE) has not yet included 120mm mortars in its arsenal, although in the past it had the opportunity to do so with the Greek-designed and developed E-56. Specifically, in March 2002 it was decided to supply 240 E-56 mortars. According to the original design they would replace 120 towed M-30 and 120 self-propelled M-106A1/A2, both 107 mm. However, for unknown reasons, the program did not go ahead with the result that the ES does not have 120 mm mortars, which does not allow it to use guided munitions (on guided mortar ammunition and its operational value they have made a special tribute: “Guided ammunition mortars: Affordable solutions of great operational performance”).
