General Dynamics and BAE Systems Team to Develop Affordable ‘Smart’ 81mm Mortar Round

The world’s first pre­ci­sion 81mm guid­ed mor­tar round

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Gen­er­al Dynam­ics Ord­nance and Tac­ti­cal Sys­tems and BAE Sys­tems have teamed to devel­op, demon­strate and pro­duce the 81mm Roll Con­trolled Guid­ed Mor­tar (RCGM), an afford­able 81mm pre­ci­sion mor­tar round. 

The com­pa­nies have been matur­ing the guid­ed mor­tar tech­nol­o­gy over the last 12 months and will be con­duct­ing tac­ti­cal demon­stra­tions ear­ly in 2012.
The team­ing arrange­ment between Gen­er­al Dynam­ics Ord­nance and Tac­ti­cal Sys­tems, a busi­ness unit of Gen­er­al Dynam­ics (NYSE: GD), and BAE Sys­tems’ Muni­tions busi­ness, will lever­age their respec­tive strengths to pro­vide a low-cost, high­ly afford­able, pre­ci­sion mor­tar. The 81mm RCGM uses the cur­rent UK L41 round and US M734A1 fuze, but incor­po­rates GPS guid­ance and Gen­er­al Dynam­ics’ patent­ed Roll Con­trolled Fixed Canard (RCFC) tech­nol­o­gy to pro­vide a pre­ci­sion strike capability.

“RCGM will put, for the first time, a low-cost indi­rect pre­ci­sion sys­tem into the hands of the front-line sol­dier, dra­mat­i­cal­ly increas­ing his com­bat effec­tive­ness,” said Ian Ander­ton, man­ag­ing direc­tor of BAE Sys­tems’ Muni­tions busi­ness. “The system’s increased accu­ra­cy will help bring effec­tive fire on tar­get quick­er and the reduced num­ber of rounds required for a typ­i­cal mis­sion will mean an approx­i­mate 30 per­cent reduc­tion in logis­tics demands – an impor­tant con­sid­er­a­tion at the end of extend­ed sup­ply lines in theater.”

Michael Wil­son, Pres­i­dent of Gen­er­al Dynam­ics Ord­nance and Tac­ti­cal Sys­tems said, “Our team­ing with BAE Sys­tems will pro­vide the infantry with a light­weight, portable, pre­ci­sion strike capa­bil­i­ty based on Gen­er­al Dynam­ics’ inno­v­a­tive Roll Con­trol Guid­ed Mor­tar tech­nol­o­gy. By using exist­ing war­heads and fuz­ing with our low-cost con­trol and guid­ance sys­tem, we can offer a tru­ly afford­able pre­ci­sion mor­tar round to the US, UK and allies across the world.”

For more infor­ma­tion about Gen­er­al Dynam­ics Ord­nance and Tac­ti­cal Sys­tems, please vis­it www.gd-ots.com.

For more infor­ma­tion about BAE Sys­tems’ Muni­tions busi­ness go to http://www.baesystems.com/Capabilities/Land/Munitions/index.htm.

For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:

Lau­rie Van­Brock­lin, Gen­er­al Dynam­ics
Tel: 727 578 8187
Cell: 727 204 1355
lgvanbrocklin@gd-ots.com