The Army needs this now. They don't need to study it for ten years, then spend ten years changing design specs, driving up the price before inevitably cancelling the program because the right palms didn't get greased. Just buy a few thousand of the things, and issue them out two per maneuver company, 4 per battalion.
The Finns have had these for 15 years. The Russians have had something similar for 50 years. Our perfumed princes are just now "beginning to prepare to form a working group to write a white paper on the issue."
The Finnish Patria NEMO 120mm gun-mortar. The system is really the turret, it's shown here integrated into a wheeled vehicle. They can also put it on a tracked vehicle, a shipping container, or even a boat.
"Patria NEMO is a turreted, remote-controlled 120 mm mortar system for the needs of modern warfare and crisis management, which calls for mobility, protection, and accuracy. It is an indirect fire support system, but due to its direct fire capability, it can also be used for self-defence."
| Elevation | −3° to +85° |
|---|---|
| Traverse | 360° |
| Rate of fire | 10 rounds/minute (max); 6 rounds/minute (sustained) |
We need more indirect firepower than we have. And it needs to be on call at the lowest possible level. And we need assault guns to take out bunkers and concrete buildings.
The NEMO can operate in urban terrain, placing 120mm mortar shells into the windows of a building, then dropping indirect fire on the intersection behind the building, then using direct fire to destroy an onrushing car bomb (VBIED).
The only thing it's missing is a machine gun. But that's a problem that should be fairly easy to rectify.
