Mortar (weapon)

A mortar is a device that fires projectiles at low velocities and short ranges. The mortar has traditionally been used as a weapon to propel explosive mortar bombs in high-arcing ballistic trajectories. The weapon is typically muzzle-loading with a short, often smooth-bore barrel, generally less than 15 times its caliber. Mortar bombs are often referred to, incorrectly, as "mortars".

Mortars are also used for a non-weapon purpose, to deploy ballistic parachutes. Such applications have included the deployment of drogue parachutes in preparation for water landing of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space capsules.

History

Origins

Mortars have been used for hundreds of years, originally in siege warfare. Many historians consider the first mortars to have been used at the 1453 siege of Constantinople by Fatih Sultan Mehmed. A European account of the 1456 siege of Belgrade by Giovanni da Tagliacozzo said that the Ottoman Turks used seven mortars that fired "stone shots one Italian mile high". The time of flight of these was apparently long enough that casualties could be avoided by posting observers to give warning of their trajectories.

United States Army

The United States Army (USA) is the largest branch of the United States Armed Forces and performs land-based military operations. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution, Article 2, Section 2, Clause 1 and United States Code, Title 10, Subtitle B, Chapter 301, Section 3001. As the largest and senior branch of the U.S. military, the modern U.S. Army has its roots in the Continental Army, which was formed (14 June 1775) to fight the American Revolutionary War (1775–83)—before the U.S. was established as a country. After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784, to replace the disbanded Continental Army. The United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army, and dates its institutional inception from the origin of that armed force in 1775.

Mortar

Mortar may refer to:

See also

173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team

The 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team ("Sky Soldiers") is an airborne infantry brigade combat team of the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy. It is the United States European Command's conventional airborne strategic response force for Europe.

Activated in 1915, as the 173rd Infantry Brigade, the unit saw service in World War I, but is best known for its actions during the Vietnam War. The brigade was the first major United States Army ground formation deployed in Vietnam, serving there from 1965 to 1971 and losing almost 1,800 soldiers. Noted for its roles in Operation Hump and Operation Junction City, the 173rd is best known for the Battle of Dak To, where it suffered heavy casualties in close combat with North Vietnamese forces. Brigade members received over 7,700 decorations, including more than 6,000 Purple Hearts. The brigade returned to the United States in 1972, where the 1st and 2nd battalions of the 503rd Airborne Regiment were absorbed into the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. The remaining units of the 173rd were inactivated.

Brigade combat team

The brigade combat team (BCT) is the basic deployable unit of maneuver in the US Army. A brigade combat team consists of one combat arms branch maneuver brigade, and its assigned support and fire units. A brigade combat team is generally commanded by a colonel (O-6), but in rare instances it is commanded by a brigadier general. A brigade combat team carries with its support units necessary to sustain its operations away from its parent division. BCTs contain organic artillery support, formerly received from the division artillery (DIVARTY).

Currently, the U.S. Army is structured around the brigade combat team. In this program, divisions that previously had not deployed individual brigades due to lack of integral support have now been restructured. The 1st Armored Division, 25th Infantry Division, etc. now have the ability to deploy one or more BCTs anywhere in the world. These BCTs are intended to be able to stand on their own, like a division in miniature. The soldiers assigned to a BCT will stay at their assignment for three years; this is intended to bolster readiness and improve unit cohesion.