Agenda Day 2 - 30 October

·       Setting a new reality - Ukraine

·       Boosting defence production - NATO

·       Focus on 120MM mortar ammunition procurement

Dr/Ing/ Col (Rt) Frederic Peugeot

Ammunition Support Partnership Branch Chief
NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA)

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·       Review of HRG Crystal™, the inertial technology advantage for digital aiming

·       Development of PAVAM-MS to enhance capabilities of future 81mm and 120mm mortar systems

·       Technology roadmap supporting further advancements in digital aiming and inertial navigation

Jeff Rioux

Director of Business Development
Safran Defense & Space Inc.

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·       Information, Surveillance and Reconnaissance

·       The importance of counter UAS tactics in mortar systems operations

·       Challenges facing lightweight discrete infantry operations

Captain Daniel Darkings

UK Chief Mortar Division Instructor at CAMS
British Army

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·       Improving the accuracy, range and lethality of indirect fires in multi-domain operations

·       Self-Propelled Howitzer capability gaps in today’s evolving geopolitical landscape

·       Acquisition strategies posed by the US Army

Colonel Freeman Bonnette

Project Manager, Self-Propelled Howitzer Systems, Program Executive Office, Ground Combat Systems (PEO GCS)
US Army

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·       The procurement and development of future indirect fire systems

·       Current capability gaps facing the Lithuanian armed Forces

·       Technological advancements needed to bolster overmatch in peer-to-peer conflict

Major Tomas Kvietkauskas

Senior Planning Officer J55 Defence Staff
Lithuanian Armed Forces

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·       Modernising the artillery: Self-propelled vs. Towed mortar systems

·       Replacing the IFS C2 system and introducing it into mortar units

·       The procurement of optronic equipment, to advance target acquisition capabilities

·       Advancing the precision of long-range indirect fires on mobile mortar systems

·       The challenges of moving target acquisition in dispersed peer adversary conflict

·       Mortar system advancements needed to maximise operational effectiveness in today’s geopolitical landscape.

Lieutenant Colonel Ian Welch

Product Manager, Precision Fires and Mortars
US Army

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·       Quantity over quality

·       The importance of preparedness

·       Advancing communication in the battlefield

Lieutenant Colonel Rauno Viitmann

Artillery Project officer
Estonian Defence Force

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The continual advancement technology and its integration into mortar systems is crucial to ensure indirect fire

capacity is aligned with the demands of today’s battlefield. This panel will discuss:

•       What are the key technologies driving the next generation of mortar systems?

•       Current advancements in optronic technology needed to bolster lethality, through precision and accuracy capabilities

Observations from the Ukraine on the importance technological advancements to ensure overmatch when facing hostile states

• ‘The Concept of the Czech Army Construction 2035’
• Mounting 120MM mortar systems
• The acquisition of self-propelled mortar systems

Major Marek Dudas

Senior Officer - Specialist Artillery Development Department of Land Forces
Czech Armed Forces

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•       Overview of Canada’s Indirect Fires Modernisation project

•       Concept of employment for organic fires and mortars in the Canadian Army

•       Canadian considerations for future mortar requirements

Major Robert Mein

Project Director, Indirect Fires Modernization (IFM) Director Land Requirements 2-2 (Indirect Fires)
Canadian Armed Forces

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