SA VADEF would like to thank The Dead District for tweeting about Azerbaijan Army using Estonian defense industry oldest and most influential player ELI CO2 driven mortar simulator M-GOLF, which was among the first product they developed having in mind reducing the cost of training of mortar battery in Estonian Defense Force in the 90’s. ELI doesn’t advertise their sales and those sales come up as surprise over some time.

Interesting 60mm mortar crew training simulator of Azerbaijan Army.
Does anybody know designation or manufacturer?#Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 #AzerbaijanArmy #mortar pic.twitter.com/mTZF2Rkurf

— The Dead District (@TheDeadDistrict) August 1, 2021

 

ELI mortar simulator M-GOLF

 

Mortar simulator M-GOLF is a kit-set that converts any 60mm, 81mm, 82mm, and 120mm mortar into a simulator by installing the specific adapters into the mortar. As seen on the video screenshot Estonian Defense Force conscripts are converting a 120mm mortar by installing the special gas tube before securing it safely. M-GOLF has been designed, since the inception, to conduct simulations in real conditions, with real mortar battery, with real fire procedures using non-explosive perpetually reusable rounds that imitate explosion on impact with environmentally friendly powder. When the mortar simulator gas tube is installed, it needs to be connected to the controller, which automatically feeds the necessary amount of CO2 to accelerate the inert training round. The controller also gives the right amount of CO2 based how big the charge was intended to be set by the battery commander. Per ELI product specification a 10L CO2 balloon can provide 1000 shots with 81mm and with max charge 200 shots, that is impressive considering how much savings it makes being the only expendable the CO2 which balloon can be refilled.

 

In order to make the mortar simulator to be usable on small training fields its range has been brought down to 1:10. Even then sighting and aiming are calibrated to simulate an actual weapon but with the less distance to fetch the round. The ballistic tables and wind corrections are used for sighting and aiming as in the case of the real firing, just with the benefits of shooting perpetually reusable ordinance.

What is fascinating to witness on The Dead District tweet is how the specifics of 60mm mortar has been accounted in the product design where the mortar operator, in order to maintain the feel and skill of using the weapon, has converted into a simulator by replacing the barrel for M-GOLF gas tube, retaining all the other parts of his original weapon. Also, due to the weapons 60mm barrel size, it’s reasonable to replace the barrel to retain the correct pressure and amount of gas necessary for ordinance precision.

 

 

The green balls in the box at the 2^nd member are those smoke puff inducing balls that get pulverized during the round impact allowing visual inspection of the training shot. On ELI homepage the “exploded” rounds are leaving markings as depicted on this picture. They are inserted into the inside of the round at the back end, that is exactly the 2^nd member is doing.

 

Note that despite the fact they are conducting simulated mortar shelling, they have raised up the red flag, as with the live firing, due to the lethality of the round with its kinetic energy. The round being a solid piece of metal will kill a living being by sheer kinetic energy on impact. The rounds do penetrate soil on impact and they have plenty of energy on impact rendering even the training range danger zone during practice.

 

The mortar simulator has been on the market for nearly 30 years and is among first products ELI developed. As the state on their home page Estonian Defense Force uses M-GOLF since 1998 but the development and testing of that product was in the mid 90’s.

 

For more information on ELI mortar simulator M-GOLF go to their homepage and have a look. ELI has also designed training simulator for M16, UAVs and quad drones with tethered and untethered versions. On top of having quad drone hive, which allows operator automatically recharged drones and continue observation without technical delays or wait time. ELI M-GOLF homepage – https://eli.ee/products/1/81mm-and-120mm-mortar-simulato