A mortar is usually a simple, lightweight, portable, man-loaded, muzzle-loaded weapon, consisting of a smooth bore metal tube fixed to a base plate (to spread the rear) with a lightweight bipod mount and a sight. We fire explosive shells (bombs which are technically called)In the ballistic trajectories high-arcing. Mortars are typically used as indirect firearms with a variety of ammunitions for close fire support

History

For hundreds of years mortars were used, originally in the siege warfare. Most historians consider Mehmed the Conqueror to have used the first mortars during the siege of Constantinople in 1453. An Italian account of Belgrade's 1456 siege by Giovanni da Tagliacozzo said the Ottoman Turks used seven mortars, which fired "one Italian mile high stone projectiles".The time of their flight was evidently long enough to prevent injuries by posting observers to warn of their paths,Early mortars, like the Pumhart von Steyr, were also large and heavy, and were not easily transportable. Simply made, these weapons were nothing more than iron bowls reminiscent of the kitchen and apothecary mortars from which their name was derived. Baron Menno van Coehoorn (Siège of Grave, 1673) invented an early transportable mortar.