Hirtenberger Defence Systems

Hirtenberger Defence Systems calls itself the mortar company, and the description is close to literal. Everything it sells attaches to a smooth-bore tube in one of three calibres. The business traces back to 1860, when Serafin Keller opened a cartridge workshop at Hirtenberg in Lower Austria, and the plant went on to become the country's second largest ammunition maker before the First World War, ran under Fritz Mandl between the wars, was seized and renamed under the Gustloff foundation after 1938, and returned to Austrian hands after the Soviet occupation ended in 1955. Mortars became the specialism more than fifty years ago. In 2019 the wider Hirtenberger group sold the munitions business to Hungarian owners and kept its automotive safety and metalworking activities, so the defence unit now sits under a Hungarian parent at Varpalota while the main production and research site stays at Leobersdorfer Strasse in Hirtenberg. A third unit in Upper Hutt, New Zealand, develops mortar and artillery fire control systems and the training and consultancy that goes with them.

The weapon systems come in four forms. The 60 mm Commando system, sold as the M6C-640 Mk1, is a hand-held tube a two-man team fires without ballistic computation, aimed at paratroopers and special operations. The bipod-mounted M6 covers conventional light infantry, the M8 in 1165 mm and 1365 mm barrel lengths handles battalion-level fire at 81 mm, and the M12 reaches out to 8,500 metres in 1385 mm and 1535 mm variants. Barrels are forged from electroslag remelted steel, base plates are welded with six ribs and vents, and bipods carry shock absorbers, damper rings and traversing and elevating gears. Aiming and sighting systems are made in house, the R08 sight for 60 mm with interchangeable ballistic plates and the mechanical A06 for 120 mm with a 2.6 times optic and battery illumination.

Mortar ammunition is the volume business and the natures are matched across calibres. High explosive rounds use TNT fills with point detonating or proximity fuzes, smoke comes as titanium tetrachloride or red phosphorus, illumination is offered in visible light at around 350,000 candela and in infrared for troops on night vision, and inert practice rounds mirror the ballistics of the live natures. The company also produces larger calibre ammunition, including 105 mm tank gun rounds and 105 mm and 155 mm howitzer natures. Fire control is handled by forward observer and mortar computers running on rugged handheld hardware with GPS and touchscreens, which is where the New Zealand unit contributes. Auxiliary field equipment covers the carrying, laying and maintenance gear a mortar section needs. Capabilities are described in four blocks, research and development, testing and qualification, engineering and prototyping, and mass production with supply chain management. That is the whole company. It does one thing, in three calibres, and has done so since long before most of its customers existed.