In time for the next war, the far more lethal M1061 60 mm Lightweight Mortar has received Pentagon approval for combat use by the U.S. military.

The U.S. Joint Munitions Command, the unit that produces all the bombs and bullets used by the military, recently approved full materiel release of the M1061 60 mm mortar round, which means the new mortar that will arm most Army platoons is ready for war.

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Full materiel release means the U.S. Army has rigorously tested and evaluated the warhead and determined it safe, operationally suitable and logistically supportable for use.

The new M1061mortar round is far more lethal than current M224 mortar rounds, which are the standard mortar ammunition in use today.

The M1061's performance-enhancing fragmentation technology has been successfully tested on warheads ranging in size from 0.5 to 250 pounds. M1061 warheads with Lethality Enhanced Ordnance (LEO) technology kill or wound over a wider area compared to conventional mortar rounds.

The increase in lethality was accomplished by utilizing a matrix of pre-formed fragments and the PBXN-110 explosive. With this combination, the M1061 achieves lethality close to that of the much larger and heavier 81 mm mortar.

During the initial phases of development, Orbital ATK produced more than 12,000 M1061 cartridges for the U.S. Army and its customers, 1,000 of which were sent to theater ahead of full material release.

In one especially vigorous test, a mortar team fired 320 rounds within 15 minutes, with an initial rate of fire of 30 rounds per minute for four minutes. This meant they fired one round every two seconds without the M1061 overheating to dangerous levels.

The M1061 was a partnership among Orbital ATK (a major U.S. defense and aerospace contractor); Saab Bofors Dynamics Switzerland Ltd. (a Swedish firm that produces military materiel) and the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center at the Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey.

The goal of the M1061 program was to increase the effectiveness of the 60 mm mortar while improving its insensitive munitions characteristics, or their capability to withstand shocks that might detonate them prematurely.

TagsM1061 60 mm Lightweight Mortar, U.S. Army, Joint Munitions Command, M224 mortar