Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index A mortar is a military weapon consisting of a tube into which is dropped a mortar shell, which is then fired in a high ballistic trajectory. Modern mortars consists of a simple lightweight tube; however, early mortars were very short, very thick cannons, and some required transport on railroad cars. Modern mortars are often portable by infantry and can be used as a small-scale substitute for artillery. See also: Military technology and equipment This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.