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Hirtenberger Defense Technology Ltd. (HDT), a subsidiary of Hirtenberger Defense Europe GmbH from Austria, which has been owned by the Hungarian state since the end of 2019, recently carried out further tests of the SOF-Fire Ballistic Calculator.

The SOF-Fire Ballistic Calculator is a compact fire control solution that HDT has developed to meet the special requirements of the New Zealand armed forces. The system combines several functions in a hardened handheld calculator.

SOF Fire Ballistic Calculator

The SOF-Fire Ballistic Calculator (SOF-Fire) was developed in cooperation with special forces to support their mortars. Because special forces operate in teams with a small staffing approach, special forces soldiers are required to perform several ancillary duties that would typically be performed by specially trained specialists. New Zealand's Special Forces called for an easy-to-use ballistics calculator that could be used without the extensive training required of a full fire control system.

To date, the SAS mortar has only been used for direct targeting. The aiming process was carried out using the weapon periscope (C2A1), while simple firing boards were used for ballistic calculations. Using the SOF-Fire Ballistic Calculator now offers several advantages:

  • Rapid targeting and engaging the enemy from cover (out of the enemy's direct line of fire)
  • More effective use of limited ammo (thanks to increased accuracy)
  • Effective target engagement even at night (C2A1 is only a day optic)
  • No significant increase in training load

The SOF-Fire has internal GPS, long battery range and can be connected to a target locator/laser range finder and a Kestrel sensor (ballistic weather meter) to determine local meteorological conditions for increased accuracy.

The software has shortcut keys for the following Fire Order commands:

  • smashed with explosives,
  • fog in target,
  • illuminate an area
  • Place a flare (IR or visible) on the ground as a Close Air Support (CAS) marker.

The correction commands can be given manually or by radio data transmission directly via the target locating device, for example by using the breakpoint method.

SOF-Fire Ballistic Calculator for Infantry

Although the system was specially developed for the needs of special forces, the system also has a right to exist in the infantry. The SOF-Fire was able to prove this recently in New Zealand.

As part of a New Zealand Armed Forces gunnery campaign conducted during the 37th week of the week, during which soldiers from the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment (1 RNZIR) were trained on the New Zealand Armed Forces' new 60mm mortar, HDT representatives were on site to inspect the To check the performance of the recently delivered mortar systems and ammunition. During the live fire training phase, the HDT representatives took the opportunity to use the new SOF Fire Ballistic Calculator in parallel and to receive feedback from the soldiers. Ian Garnett, Managing Director of HDT, was pleased with the first-hand feedback and promised to implement the suggestions in the SOF-Fire as soon as possible. According to Garnett, the software is designed in such a way that modifications can be implemented very easily and product improvements can therefore be implemented very quickly.

The 60 mm mortar is usually a weapon system that is used outside of the armed forces' joint tactical fire support (this is also the intention in the Bundeswehr) and provides fire support for the platoon and company level. When using the SOF-Fire Ballistic Calculator or a similar system, there is no need for a connection to separate fire control teams, since the tactical use of the "trained mortars" is determined by the infantry to be supported anyway.

André Forkert

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