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In
Parallel with the growing popularity of wheeled combat vehicles is an
interest in wheeled
artillery, as represented at Eurosatory 2006 by the
Caesar system, from GIAT,
the FH55BW Arthur, from the Swedish SWS Company and
Portee – from BAE
Systems. These guns offer improved mobility, enhanced autonomous
operability, and, with the introduction of advanced, precision 'smart'
munitions, they can also be selective and effective against point and
mobile targets. A
wide range of artillery munitions were also displayed, highlighting
the entry of insensitive munitions,
trajectory corrected systems
and development progress of advanced precision attack munitions.
Another trend is the growing popularity
of mobile 120mm mortars. Two new 120mm mortar carriers were unveiled
here – the NEMO,
introduced by Patria on an 8x8 AMV and the
Wiesel 2,
developed to address the German Army requirements for an air-mobile
fire support.
Mortars and artillery present a
relatively low-cost weapon, but both are limited by range and can only engage
a target within a range of "statistical error", which cannot be tolerated with
sensitive operations where restricted use of force is required. During
firing, mortar and artillery projectile are exposed to very high loads, therefore,
converting artillery and mortar bombs into precision weapons is a
complex and costly technical challenge. Rockets and missiles do not
have the same limitations and several experienced manufacturers are proposing
various modifications and improvements for their systems to enable
rocket based fire support elements to strike at point targets up to
hundreds of kilometers deep into enemy area. Precision attack weapons
on display also included the
Precision Attack Missile (PAM), displayed by Raytheon and the
proposed Hellfire/JCM follow-on Precision Attack Air/Surface Missile (PAASM).
Among these systems are the
GMLRS, which is under development by a US-European team.
 A similar
program called EXTRA (Extended
Range Rocket) is currently underway in Israel, as a collaboration
between IAI and IMI. In Russia, similar work is done on Grad, and
Smerch rockets. For attacks at even longer ranges several
missiles are in production, including the Russian
Iskander E, US
ATACMS and Israeli
LORA.
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