Elbit Systems Ltd. announced today that it was awarded a contract worth approximately $53 million to supply the Crossbow Unmanned Turreted 120mm Soft Recoil Mortar Systems to General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) for the installation on Pandur 6×6 wheeled armored vehicle for a European customer. The contract will be performed over a period of 6 years. This marks the first contract signed for the supply of the Crossbow since its unveiling at the DSEI exhibition in London in 2023. It was developed over the last three years based on Elbit’s experience in ammunition, fuzes, fire control, and command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C4I) integration.
Yehuda (Udi) Vered, General Manager of Elbit Systems Land: “We are proud to receive the first order from a leading international costumer for our state-of-the-art Crossbow Unmanned Turreted Mortar System. The turreted mortar, with its precise guided round, reaffirms our commitment to developing and providing innovative and advanced land systems as solutions to the evolving needs of the modern battlefield.”
The Crossbow is a turreted, light weight and remote-controlled 120 mm mortar system with a high level of mobility, protection and accuracy with minimal protrusion, can be easily operated by a single crew member, and is fuzed for fully automatic operation. The Crossbow offers high protection and survivability for the mortar operator’s crew and a short sensor-to-shooter circle, and is capable of shooting the first round in less than 30 seconds. It has a maximum rate of ten rounds per minute with a sustained rate of fire of six rounds per minute. The system can fire a variety of NATO 120mm ammunition, including the Iron Sting guided mortar munition, providing an effective range of up to 10 kilometers. No index loading is required for the Crossbow turret, which offers a 360° capability.
The Crossbow and armored vehicle chassis provide protection for crew against infantry weapons fire, artillery shell fragments and Nuclear, Biological, Chemical (NBC) weapons. The turreted mortar system can be used for self-defence and various indirect fire missions. Impressive fire support and rapid response with high crew protection – all in one. At International Armoured Vehicles (IAV) 2023 conference, Elbit showed an artist’s impression of Crossbow mounted on a Boxer armoured vehicle. Elbit is marketing the Crossbow to NATO countries and partners, including for Czech CV90 tracked infantry fighting vehicles, Austrian Pandurs, and US Stryker wheeled armoured personnel carriers.
