L16 81mm mortar
Mortar
The L16 81mm mortar is a British and Canadian standard mortar used by the Canadian Army, British Army, and many other armed forces. It originated as a joint design by the UK and Canada. The U.S. armed forces version is the M252.
01Description
It was introduced in 1965-66, replacing the Ordnance ML 3 inch Mortar in UK service, where it is used by the British Army, the Royal Marines and the RAF Regiment.
In UK armoured/mechanised infantry battalions, the L16 mortar is mounted in an FV 432 AFV (six per battalion mortar platoon). British army light role infantry battalions and the Royal Marines may transport their mortars in BvS 10 vehicles (the replacement for the Bv 206). Otherwise, it is carried disassembled in three loads, (barrel, baseplate and bipod with sights, each approximately 11 kg), normally carried by a vehicle or helicopter and assembled for firing from the ground.
The weapon can be man-packed by the mortar detachment, in which case the ammunition would be carried by other soldiers of the battalion. In addition to their normal equipment, each soldier would carry four bombs in a pair of two-bomb plastic containers (known as greenies in the British Army).
02Operators
Current operators
- Austria: known as 'M8 mortar'
- Belize
- Brazil
- Canada
- Estonia
- Guyana
- India
- Japan
- Kenya
- Malawi
- Malaysia
- Netherlands: L16A2
- New Zealand: L16A2
- Nigeria
- Norway
- Oman
- Portugal
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- Syria
- Thailand
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
- United States: M252 mortar
- Yemen
Former operators
- Australia: known as the 'F2 81mm mortar' it was manufactured in Australia, and was replaced by the M252A1
- Rhodesia, Rhodesian Army
- Lebanese Forces (militia)
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “L16 81mm mortar”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- 81mmMORT L16.png by Hisamikabunomura (talk)Hisamikabunomura, CC BY-SA 3.0
- L18 Operators.jpg by Basedosaurus, CC BY-SA 4.0
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