Ranger Mortar Team
U.S. Army Photo
A Ranger Mortar Squad with Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, fire a M224 mortar during task force training.
Each Ranger rifle company's weapons platoon includes a Mortar section which fields 2 3-man mortar squads.
The mortar section provides light indirect fire support for the Ranger rifle company.
The squads may operate as a section or they may deploy separately in support of a Rifle platoon.
The M224 is a 60mm lightweight mortar than can be fired from a fixed M7 baseplate or, as shown here, in hand-held mode using a M8 baseplate.
It fires a selection of projectiles, including smoke, high explosive (HE) and illumination.
It can fire HE rounds out to 3,500 meters.
