The Cardom (, stands for Computerized Autonomous Recoil Rapid Deployed Outrange Mortar) is an Israeli 81 mm/120 mm recoil mortar system (RMS), manufactured by Soltam Systems. It is used by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF),

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

countries, and others. The Cardom is an autonomous, computerized system for mounting on light and medium armored carriers. The system provides accurate and effective fire support.

Overview

The system uses a new computerized integrated navigation and self-positioning and aiming systems. Its modern target acquisition devices, together with a specially designed recoiling mortar system, attenuate the firing loads and enables mounting the systems on wheeled and tracked

armoured fighting vehicles An armoured fighting vehicle (British English) or armored fighting vehicle (American English) (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by vehicle armour, armour, generally combining operational mobility with Offensive (military), offensive a ...

, or even soft-skinned vehicles such as trucks. The system's aiming mechanisms are linked to state-of-the-art command, control and communication systems, to achieve quick response automatic laying mode. The Cardom system takes target-acquisition data that provides range, bearing, position and other data from an observation point and transmits it directly to the Cardom system. Using electrical servo motors, the mortar barrel is then set at the exact traverse and elevation angles to fire upon the target. The 120 mm Cardom has a burst rate of 16 rpm, followed by a 4 rpm sustained rate of fire.

Foreign Use

The Cardom recoil mortar system has been qualified for fielding with the 3rd US Army

Stryker The Stryker is a family of Eight-wheel drive, eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicles derived from the Canadian LAV III. Stryker vehicles are produced by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-C) for the United States Army in a plant in L ...

brigade, and will be coupled with the M95 mortar's fire control system on the M1129 mortar carrier. So far, over 320 mortar systems have been manufactured for the U.S. Army.

Performance

250px, Cardom on a US M1129 mortar carrier in operation in Iraq *Range: 7,000-8,000 meters *Calibre: 120/81mm smoothbore and rifled *Max rate of fire: 16 rounds per minute *Traverse (deg): 360 *Shoot of first round: less than 30 sec *Crew: 2-4 dependent on carrier *Dual mode: mounted and dismounted

Operators

; * Azerbaijani Land Forces ; * Royal Bahraini Army special forces (purchased to Spain, fitted on the URO VAMTAC) ; *

Chilean Army The Chilean Army () is the land arm of the Chilean Armed Forces. This 80,000-person army (9,200 of which are conscripts) is organized into six divisions, an army aviation brigade and a special operations brigade. In recent years, and after sever ...

; * Cameroon Army ; *

Royal Danish Army The Royal Danish Army (; ; ) is the land-based branch of the Danish Armed Forces, together with the Danish Home Guard. For the last decade, the Royal Danish Army has undergone a massive transformation of structures, equipment and training methods ...

(also known as M/10 or Cardom 10) ; *

Israeli Army The Israeli Ground Forces () are the Army, ground forces of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The commander is the GOC Army Headquarters, General Officer Commanding with the rank of major general, the ''Mazi'', subordinate to the Chief of the Gen ...

; *

Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan The Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan (, , ) are the unified armed forces of Kazakhstan. They consist of three branches ( Ground Forces, Air Defense Forces, Naval Forces) as well as four independent formations ( Air Assault Forces, Spec ...

; *

Portuguese Army The Portuguese Army () is the land component of the Portuguese Armed Forces, Armed Forces of Portugal and is also its largest branch. It is charged with the defence of Portugal, in co-operation with other branches of the Armed Forces. With its ...

; *

Philippine Army The Philippine Army (PA) () is the main, oldest and largest branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), responsible for ground warfare. , it had an estimated strength of 143,100 soldiers The service branch was established on December ...

; *

Spanish Army The Spanish Army () is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest Standing army, active armies – dating back to the late 15th century. The Spanish Army has existed ...

; *

Royal Thai Army The Royal Thai Army or RTA (; ) is the army of Thailand and the oldest and largest branch of the Royal Thai Armed Forces. History Origin The Royal Thai Army is responsible for protecting the kingdom's sovereignty. The army was formed in 187 ...

; * Uganda Army ; *

; *

Zambian Army The Zambian Army is the land military branch of the Zambian Defence Force. Like all branches of the Zambian military, citizens of the nation are required to register at 16 years old, and citizens can join at 16 years old with parental consent or a ...

References

External links

{{Commons category, Soltam Cardom recoil mortar system
Cardom mortar system on defense-update.com

Video

youtube video of Cardom system
Infantry mortars 120 mm mortars Military equipment introduced in the 2000s