Rheinmetall's Fly-K and 60 mm mortar ammunition at IDEX 2013

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IDEX 2013
Tri-Service defence exhibition

17 - 21 February 2013
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

 
Rheinmetall at IDEX 2013
 
 
Wednesday, February 20, 2013, 09:14 PM
 
Rheinmetall's Fly-K and 60 mm mortar ammunition at IDEX 2013

Particularly in modern conflicts, ground troops have to be able to respond in a scalable manner to multiple threats worldwide. Infantry forces are also capable to fight in difficult terrain – be it an urban environment or high in the mountains. Despite all the talk of automation and unmanned systems, it is clear that “boots on the ground”, i.e. infantrymen, are as important as ever and will continue to play a decisive role in future military scenarios.

     
At IDEX 2013 Rheinmetall is displaying the Fly-K mortar and its new family of 60mm ammunition. The Düsseldorf-based Group’s latest generation of enhanced-range, enhanced-performance mortar ordnance is designed to meet all current and foreseeable future mission requirements.
Fly-K Mortar System's ammunition
     
Fly-K mortar
As indirect fire weapons, mortars play an indispensable role on the modern battlefield, providing light, highly mobile units in particular with organic firepower.

Rheinmetall has developed a quick-mounting digital aiming device for the Fly-K mortar, a system successfully deployed by the French armed forces in Afghanistan. The device measures the incline and elevation angle of the tube, while showing the range of the cartridges on a display. Light, compact, quiet and with a very low operational signature, this indirect fire weapon can of course also be used without an aiming device to engage targets at distances of up to 800 metres.

Rheinmetall has just won a contract from the French armed forces to supply further Fly-K-products worth €38 million.
     
At IDEX 2013 Rheinmetall is displaying the Fly-K mortar and its new family of 60mm ammunition. The Düsseldorf-based Group’s latest generation of enhanced-range, enhanced-performance mortar ordnance is designed to meet all current and foreseeable future mission requirements.
Rheinmetall’s new 60 mm mortar ammunition
     
60 mm mortar ammunition
At IDEX 2013 Rheinmetall is also displaying its new family of 60mm ammunition. The Düsseldorf-based Group’s latest generation of enhanced-range, enhanced-performance mortar ordnance is designed to meet all current and foreseeable future mission requirements.

This innovative ammunition family is optimized for insensitivity, fulfilling or surpassing all STANAG 4439 requirements. It encompasses service and practice cartridges, including insensitive high explosive (IHE), high explosive (HE), three different types of smoke/obscurant as well as two illumination variants (visible light and infrared).

The new 60mm ammunition is especially well suited for special forces-type mortars with barrel lengths of 640 and 650 mm. It can also be fired from previously fielded standard weapons with barrel lengths of 895 and 1,000 mm. This is also true of long-range systems such as the M6 launcher made by Denel Land Systems. Fired from a mortar with an 895-mm-long barrel, the maximum effective range is approximately 4,000 metres. Moreover, Rheinmetall’s new 60mm ammunition family is compatible with all standard weapons systems in this calibre.

The propelling charge system is identical in all variants, and – depending on customer specifications – can be made with either EI or ECL powder in a combustible case. The loading system and firing tables can also be adapted to match customer requirements. The obturation characteristics of the rounds have been improved as well, contributing to the longer maximum effective range. Moreover, the entire ammunition family meets the STANAG requirements for safety and environmental protection.