U.S. Army buys Scorpion Light mortar systems

The U.S. Army has awarded Global Military Products a $12.9 million contract to integrate its Scorpion Light 81mm mobile mortar system onto the Army’s Infantry Squad Vehicle-Utility platforms.

The company announced the award on September 3, 2026, under the Department of Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium’s Other Transaction Authority framework.

The deal covers pairing the Tampa-based company’s mortar system with Army digital fire control technology and government-furnished M253 mortar barrels, mounted on the ISV-U, a lighter, faster variant of the Army’s new troop-carrying vehicle. Each ISV-U can carry a Scorpion Light system and 72 mortar rounds, according to earlier Army testing of the platform.

The Army’s 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment tested Scorpion Light at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, in October 2025 as part of the Transformation in Contact 2.0 program, an effort that puts experimental gear in soldiers’ hands ahead of wider fielding decisions. During that trial, Global Military Products said the system could fire eight rounds and relocate in under two minutes, with roughly 30 seconds needed to fire the first round and another 30 seconds to displace after the last.

Soldiers from the same battalion, assigned to the Multi-Purpose Company, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, took the ISV-mounted system into Exercise Balikatan 2026 in the Philippines. There, soldiers fired 20 rounds from two Scorpion Light systems in under two minutes during live-fire operations, according to Global Military Products.

“The enhanced capabilities provided by the next-generation Scorpion mobile mortar system directly support the Army’s Transformation Initiative and its transition toward smaller, more agile and highly lethal combat formations prepared to address emerging threats in complex operational environments,” said James Knight, Director of Business Development, Global Military Products. “We worked closely with Army stakeholders and soldiers to continuously evaluate, iterate and refine the Scorpion platform based on operational feedback. This contract award reflects the success of that collaboration and our commitment to delivering a fully integrated mobile mortar capability that increases lethality, improves operator safety, and provides unmatched tactical mobility for the warfighter.”

The system’s fire control setup links to the Army’s Nett Warrior networked communications gear, letting a crew hand off targets between systems and process fire missions digitally rather than working the numbers by hand. Global Military Products has said the mortar can also fire from a special baseplate on nearly any surface and can take guidance from third-party targeting systems.

Global Military Products and the Army developed Scorpion Light over roughly two years through the Soldier Enhancement Program and a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, using direct feedback from troops in the field. The company has not disclosed how many Scorpion Light systems the new contract will deliver or a timeline for fielding beyond the current round of testing and integration work.

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