Patent ID: 8534180

Claim:
A weapon system comprising a carrier vehicle and a mortar mounted to the vehicle, wherein the mortar is capable of loading with a mortar shell, wherein the mortar shell has a plurality of first propellant charge modules that are capable of stripping off at a side of a fin structure of the mortar shell, and the mortar is pivotable from an index position to a firing position that is appropriate for one or more predetermined target parameters, wherein the weapon system further comprises: (a) a weapon area that includes a controllable automatic loading device arranged to take the mortar shell from a munition magazine in the weapon area; and (b) a controllable automatic stripping device arranged to automatically push one or more second propellant charge modules of the plurality of first propellant charge modules off the fin structure of the mortar shell before the mortar shell is pushed into a weapon barrel of the mortar by the loading device, wherein the one or more second propellant charge modules are excess propellant charge modules that are not required after definition of the predetermined target parameters.