Dragon Fire II

The Dragon Fire 120 mm heavy mortar was a private venture by TDA Armaments that was picked up by the US Marine Corps for its EFSS (Expeditionary Fire Support System) requirement. It is a fully automated mortar capable of using rifled or smoothbore 120 mm ammunition. Like all mortars it is a high-angle-of-fire weapon used for indirect fire support. Dragon Fire is also expected to be effective in a counter-battery role.

The Dragon Fire II is a program to develop a fully automated mortar system that is capable of firing 120 millimeter heavy ammunition and provide support to soldiers in battle. The Dragon Fire II program has been in development since 2006 at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in West Bethesda, Maryland. The automated mortar system is being developed for prospective use by the U.S. Marine Corps.

The Dragon Fire II weapon will be able to fire mortar shells at a high angle towards enemy positions. However, unlike most mortars, the Dragon Fire II will be absolutely automated and will not involve soldiers to load the weapon with ammunition and discharge it. The U.S. military began experimenting with ways to automate artillery fire in the late 1990s in an effort to reduce human victims in combat.

The first prototype of an automated mortar system was completed in 1998 and tested by the Marine Corps. The Dragon Fire II system is being developed by General Dynamics Ordinance and Tactical Systems.

The Dragon Fire II mortar system uses automatic ammunition loading and an advanced aiming system. Tests have established that the automated weapon was faster and more accurate than physically operated mortars. The Dragon Fire II mortar system can be used on the ground with a light armored vehicle or Humvee, and in the air with a CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter and a V-22 Osprey helicopter. Once placed in a specific location, the Dragon Fire II system can be operated remotely by soldiers, or it can be set-up to run on its own in a fully automatic mode. The weapon can fire 10 rounds per minute. The Dragon Fire II can also be operated physically if the automated system fails.

Since 1997 the US Marine Corps Warfighting laboratory is experimenting the Dragon Fire, Expeditionary Fire Support System – a mortar based system that designed to offer mobile fire support for expeditionary forces. Dragon Fire I system demonstrator that utilized a 120mm rifled, recoiling, self-loading mortar, that can fire rifled or smoothbore ammunition. The original system had a weight of 7,000 pounds, but the new version, Dragon Fire II weighs only 3,200 pounds, and will be capable of deployment in a towed, heliborne and mounted versions. Dragon Fire II is the follow-on experimentation phase of the program, which utilizes a towed by a tactical vehicle (such as the HUMMV) or internally mounted on a LAV The mortar has a range of 8,200 meters (13,000 m’ with rocket assisted projectiles).

It can fire 10 rounds per minute for 2 minutes, or four rounds per minute sustained fire. The system has an on-board digital communications, navigation and computation facilities to enable effective precision fire at a closed “sensor-to-shooter” loop. The USMC Warfighting Lab is also experimenting with remote control capability and stabilization that will enable fire on the move for improved agility and responsiveness.

The system can be deployed from amphibious ships, internally, in CH-53 helicopters and MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. Dragon Fire II EFSS systems transitioned into a spiral acquisition with the award of the program to General Dynamics Ordnance & Tactical Systems (GD OTS) in October 2004. GD OTS is cooperating with TDA Armaments SAS, a joint venture between Thales and EADS Deutschland, to produce ammunition for these mortars.