The Didgori 120 mm mortar carrier displayed at SOFEX 2022. (Janes/Jeremy Binnie)
The Jordanian company Petra Global is confident it will find Middle Eastern customers for the 120 mm mortar variant of the Didgori armoured vehicle it displayed at the SOFEX 2022 show held in Aqaba from 1 to 3 November.
Established as a military procurement company in 2010, Petra Global has an agreement with Georgia's Delta State Military Scientific-Technical Centre to market the Didgori in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It has sold Didgori ambulance variants to the Royal Saudi Land Forces, as well as 120 mm towed mortars to Gulf militaries, according to Faris Deeb, the company's chief operations officer.
Deeb told Janes that the company's existing customers asked for a 120 mm mortar system that can be deployed far more quickly than the towed ones it has already supplied. Petra consequently worked with Delta to develop the Didgori mortar variant, which the Georgians unveiled at the IDEX show held in Abu Dhabi in February 2019.
He said that the mortar can be deployed from the back of the Didgori using a hydraulic system in 75 seconds and returned to its travel position in 85 seconds. The vehicle can travel at 40–50 km/h, depending on the terrain, with the mortar only partially retracted, making it even faster to move to avoid counterfire.
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