Looking for:

Please notice: this is a layman's post. If you read it please don't skip the notes during and at the bottom of the post. Also before you decide what to think of my writings: please read through my latest post (plead added 03/06/2014).

A 120 mm mortar shell:

Frames from a video filmed in Homs and documenting damages caused by mortar shelling. Uploaded on April 4. to 434343aaa's YouTube channel.

Fragments of mortar stems similar to this have been shown very often in videos from Syria. Therefore since I started to compile reports of what weapons are being used by the regime against the opposition I have been interested in knowing more about this specific shell-model. But even if it seems to be very commonly used I haven't been able to match it on-line, nor have I seen anyone else identifying the model. Where did I not look?


Some observations:

The frames above are from a video documenting the damages caused by the shell, and from looking at it, it seems to me that they are caused by a fragmentation round, and that it detonated on impact (the scattered holes to the exterior of the building on the other side of the street, and the more concentrated damages to the surface of the street).

Also; from comparing to the hand holding the fragment I estimate the "diameter" of the fins to be more than 100 mm and less than 150 mm. To my knowledge this will make it a shell for a 120 mm mortar.

Further more; since it is being used that much and in a way that doesn't seem to require a lot of precision (see note 1) - and also from the look of the design - I expect it to be a "quantity product" rather than one of quality.

A possible parallel?
The frames below are from a video showing a mortar tail section that - except for the black band on the fragment above - looks very similar. It has the same colour, the shape of the fins are the same, and the pattern of the holes in the stem matches too.

The title of the video calls the green part to the left an "unknown projectile", but according to Australian weapons specialist Nic Jenzen-Jones (aka @RogueAdventurer) it's a 120 mm parachute flare type illumination round - the "IL" in the centre frame below is for "illumination" and a parachute-like thing can be seen on the ground in the frame to the left.

A 120 mm flare type illumination round, shown in a video uploaded on March 3. to syriamonitoring's YouTube channel. Location: Zabadani (west of Damascus)
* note: this video has since been taken down, and I've not been able to find another version, sorry.

Since the tails of these two different types of mortar rounds are that similar(see note 2), I see it as a possibility that they are from the same manufacturer. Therefore any information pointing to origin of this last shell would be of great interest.

* note 1: It is my general impression is that this weapon is being used to terrorize the population rather than being aimed at military targets, and I find this somehow confirmed by the seemingly casual way the 120 mm mortar in this analysis is operated.
* note 2(June 26. 2012): I'm not expecting the tail/stem of the shell model I'm looking for to be as long as that of the illumination round. My guess is that it is shorter - probably not longer than the fragment presented - the matching I'm seeing is only about shape of fins, holes and colour.

Addition, May 29 & October 4:
(significantly edited 04 and 05/10/2012)

A mortar tail/stem of another design has turned up and I'm convinced that this too is from a 120 mm round. The video in which the fragment was shown was posted on YouTube on May 27., and it was said to be from the bombardment of Hama that same day.

frames from video uploaded 27/5/2012 to ward.hama Syria's YouTube channel.

I found a matching fin-design on a mortar round model on the web-site of an ammunitions manufacturer. Earlier I also posted the photo of that model here, but on request from the company, I have removed the photo (see note 1).

It turns out that the design is of a Russian standard. A standard that is produced by many manufacturers in many countries. This lowers - or removes - any expectations of being able to identify the origin of that particular model, at least as long as no material other than the video is available.

However, knowledge of when the above mentioned standard was implemented, might indirectly be of relevance to getting an idea of the age of the red-tailed mortar round (which this post originally set out to find). The assumption, that the government army would have used its oldest stockpiles first, combined with the apparent shift in models, gives me the thought, that this other model is of a more recent supply, and, that the stockpiles, of the older red-tailed model, are beginning to become depleted(see note 2). If that's the case, then the implementation of the mentioned standard would mark the earliest date possible, from where the red-tailed model was no longer received.

...and even if - for now - this is all speculations, it does, never the less, add to a sense, that the production year of the red-tailed model has to be pushed back quite a bit. "At least a couple of decades back" would be the number, I'd put on that sense.


* note 1(added 04/10/2012): The request from the company was a reaction to a (heavily delayed) mail from me, informing them, that I had posted their photo. And their reason, for asking me not to use the photo, was/is that they don't want to be (unjustly) associated with having supplied those mortar rounds.
* note 2(added 05/10/2012): This was an observation of late May 2012.
..

If you have any knowledge, ideas or thoughts - and you feel like sharing them - please do so. You can leave information as a comment below or you can contact me here or @bjoernen_hj.


Related posts on this blog:
- weapons used on Homs
- Hama 
- Rastan
- mortar position, Homs
- air base missille attack

this post is an expanded section of the larger post: weapons used on Homs.