The power of self-propelled mortars made in Vietnam

Military Region 9 recently introduced a series of new generation weapons, created by integrating guns and artillery onto a tracked vehicle chassis.

In addition to the 23mm ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun or the 105mm M101 howitzer mounted on the M548 tracked truck chassis, there is another weapon that makes a very strong impression: the self-propelled mortar system using the M113 armored personnel carrier chassis.

It is known that the 100mm mortar is a product completely researched and manufactured by the domestic defense industry. In addition to self-sufficient 100mm mortar shells, the Weapons Institute - General Department of Defense Industry also manufactured and successfully tested the electronic timer fuse for 100mm cassette mortar shells.

Although the above weapon is an extremely powerful battalion-level firepower, its disadvantage is that it is a bit heavy, requires a lot of manpower to participate in the firing process, and carries relatively little ammunition. That is why it is very necessary to put the 100mm mortar on the M113 armored vehicle.

100mm self-propelled mortar mounted on Vietnamese M113 armored vehicle chassis.

Vietnam's method above can be seen to be quite similar to the American M106 self-propelled mortar model, this weapon system is also their battalion-level firepower.

The US Army converted the M113 armored vehicle's troop compartment and put in a tripod with a 107mm M30 mortar, the empty space where the soldiers' seats used to be was modified to become an ammunition compartment.

Inside the combat compartment of the M106 self-propelled mortar system.

Converting the M113 armored vehicle into a self-propelled mortar platform not only reduces the number of soldiers in the battery, but also increases the ammunition reserve, allowing for long-term firing and easily overcoming many types of complex terrain, but also limits casualties from return fire from the enemy.

Besides, it is easy to see that there is still a lot of space inside the M113 armored vehicle, very convenient for upgrading weapons, the proof is that the current US M106A3 version has switched to using the 120 mm caliber M120 mortar instead of the 107 mm caliber M30 anymore.

The 120 mm caliber M120 mortar of the M106A3 system is firing.

For Vietnam, integrating larger caliber mortars onto M113 armored vehicles is not considered difficult, so it is likely that this program will be carried out in the near future.

At that time, the Vietnam People's Army will have in its inventory a very powerful battalion-level fire support weapon, not inferior to any equivalent product in the world.

According to baodatviet