TSAMTO, May 22. At the first stage, the Spanish Defense Ministry plans to purchase up to 258 EIMOS mortars from the Spanish company Expal for the Armed Forces of the country in the amount of 125 million euros.
About this, as reported by Infodefensa.com On May 19, Secretary of State for Defense of Spain Amparo Valcarce said at the official presentation of the program at the Expal stand on the last day of the International Defense and Security Exhibition (FEINDEF).
According to A. Valkarse, this is one of 13 new programs that the ministry plans to launch this year to modernize the Armed Forces. The investments will be distributed for the period 2023-2031. The program will also have a second stage, the details of which she did not report.
The current version of the EIMOS has a caliber of 81 mm, although the Secretary of State did not rule out the possibility of producing a variant with a caliber of 120 mm. "The system will provide greater versatility during the direct fire support of battalion and company units in various variants with 81 and 120 mm calibers," he said in his speech.
According to her, at the moment four countries are interested in purchasing a new Spanish system, including the USA, Poland, Lithuania and the Netherlands. According to the CAMTO database, since 2015, mortars manufactured by Expal on various platforms have been received by the Armed Forces of Bahrain, Belgium, Italy, Saudi Arabia, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.
Expal has developed an industrial plan in accordance with the new "Defense Industry Strategy" for the production of EIMOS mortars, which also involves other Spanish companies such as GMV, Piedrafita and Urovesa. The main production site for the assembly of the system will be the company's plant in Albacete.
EIMOS is an integrated mortar system that provides for the placement of an 81–mm or 60-mm mortar on a rotary platform mounted on a chassis with a 4x4 wheel formula (standard VAMTAC ST5). The weight of the 81-mm version artillery unit is 550 kg. Calculation of the system – 4 people. The mortar change takes no more than 3 minutes. The maximum firing range of 81 mm ammunition is 6900 m, 60 mm ammunition is 4900 m–
High shooting accuracy is ensured thanks to a modern inertial navigation unit, integration with the TALOS system for receiving and transmitting information to other units and UAV calculations.
