Spain’s New Technologies Global Systems (NTGS) Alakran 120 mm mortar carrier systems has confirmed first export order from Saudi Arabian Border Guards. Saudi Arabia signed a deal with the NTGS for the procurement of 100 Alakran 120 mm mortar system mounted in a pick up vehicle. Saudi Arabia’s Border Guard has revealed itself as an operator of the 120 mm Alakran rapid-deployment mortar when it displayed the system during the Al-Janadriyah Festival, an annual cultural event in the kingdom. The Alakran is a 120 mm mortar with a range of up to 8.2 km. It can be integrated onto a range of wheeled platforms that have a stated maximum payload of 1.5 tonnes without any need for structural reinforcements.
The Alakran is the world lightest mortar carrier system. Its innovative design allows the use in 1 Ton payload vehicle. the system uses a mechanical system to lower the mortar to the ground so that it faces away from the rear of the vehicle. High accuracy thanks to its automatic aiming, high firepower (6 shoots per minute – manual loading). The advantage of this systems is the ability to relocate not only allows fire support to be provided where it is needed faster but also allows these units to avoid counter-battery fire. Alakran needs 12 seconds to deliver firepower and only 5 seconds to be out of action. This extraordinary capability together with its logistic vehicle appearance makes Alakran a formidable weapon system. The Alakran uses an aiming electro-mechanical system MAD-1 also developed by the Spanish Company NTGS that allows aiming and shooting in a much faster way, with automatic calculations and by means of radio communications, avoiding shouting orders.
Alakran 120 mm lightest mortar carrier system for an unidentified Middle-East export customer and these will be integrated onto a Toyota Land Cruiser 70 vehicle. The operator can then automatically lay the barrel using the computerised fire-control system. The system is available in 120 mm and 81 mm versions, with the former weighing 300 kg, enabling it to be carried by various types of light vehicle. NTGS has released a video showing the mortar being deployed, firing two rounds at different targets, and retracting, in just over one minute. NTGS came up with a solution involving a sleeve that generates water droplets to cool the barrel. The Saudi Arabian Border Guards requested a cooling system that would prevent propelling charges from prematurely igniting in the barrel during sustained firing.
