FMS 2024: Austria confirmed as first Crossbow turreted mortar customer

The Crossbow mortar turret on show at DSEI 2023. (Janes/Andrew Galer)

Janes received confirmation at Defence iQ's Future Mortar Systems (FMS) 2024 conference held in London on 29–30 October that Austria is a customer for Elbit Systems' Crossbow 120 mm turreted mortar. The Israeli company announced on 8 May that it had been awarded a USD53 million, six-year contract to supply Crossbow to General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) for installation on the Pandur 6×6 armoured personnel carrier for a European customer, its first international order.

Elbit displayed a full-scale mock-up of the turret at the DSEI 2023 defence exhibition held in London in September 2023. The company first presented the Crossbow concept at Defence iQ's International Armoured Vehicles (IAV) 2023 conference held in London in January.

Crossbow can be installed in a mission module with minimal protrusion, can be easily operated by a single crew member, and is fuzed for fully automatic operation, according to Elbit.

It can fire the company's range of mortar rounds, including the Iron Sting GPS-guided precision munition. It has a range of 10 km and a rate of fire of 10 rds/min, with a sustained rate of fire of six rounds for the first minute.

Crossbow is designed to be fired on the move and to shoot and scoot with a multiple-round simultaneous impact (MRSI) capability.

It is to enter service with the Israel Defense Forces, which financed its development and plan to deploy a containerised remotely operated version for border defence, as well as installing it in its Eitan 8×8 infantry fighting vehicle. The containerised version will have 20 ready-to-fire rounds, the Pandur four, and Eitan six, with the number of stored rounds depending on the size of the vehicle it is installed on.