The Army’s latest effort to modernize its formation took shape on the training grounds of Hawaii last week, as soldiers tested a new “shoot and scoot” mobile mortar system designed to make units more agile in combat.
Members of the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment simulated wartime scenarios and trained with the Scorpion Light 81mm mortar system for five days, beginning Oct. 20, according to a Wednesday news release from Global Military Products, the Florida-based company that makes the weapons.
The testing was part of the Army’s Transformation in Contact 2.0 program, an initiative that puts experimental weapons and vehicles into the hands of soldiers for feedback before the government fields those items at a large scale.
“The soldiers’ feedback was invaluable and further validated the system’s ability to provide rapid, highly mobile, precise and survivable indirect fire,” James Knight, senior manager of defense systems and energetics at Global Military Products, said in the Wednesday statement.
Soldiers moved the new mortar platform around on the Army’s “utility” Infantry Squad Vehicles, which are built for troop movement and transport at higher speeds. Each vehicle can carry the mortar system and 72 rounds, according to the release, which said the Scorpion Light can fire eight rounds and relocate in less than two minutes.
The system takes only 30 seconds to fire the first round and 30 seconds to displace after firing the final round, Global Military Products reported in a September news release, adding that it has a special baseplate that enables the system to be fired on “nearly any surface.”
It can also integrate with third-party guidance.
The system, when mounted on the utility vehicles, is light enough to travel inside of a Chinook helicopter or sling-loaded under a Black Hawk helicopter. Two of the Scorpion Light systems used in the trials will remain in Hawaii and be transported via a C-17 aircraft to take part in the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center exercises in November, the manufacturer said.
The joint exercise, led by the 25th Infantry Division across Hawaii and Luzon in the Philippines, will reportedly include military personnel from Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Maldives, France and New Zealand, among other international partners.
The Scorpion Light has also been assessed by the Marine Corps at Quantico, Virginia, and the manufacturer reported that a version of the system has been used in combat in Ukraine.
The Army has not announced if it intends to adopt the platform and officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Eve Sampson is a reporter and former Army officer. She has covered conflict across the world, writing for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.
