The
US Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL) started a Concept Demonstrator project in 1997. They wanted a "mortar in a box," that is a weapon that could be remotely emplaced and fired unattended on a future battlefield. In late 1997, MCWL accepted a proposal by the army's Program Manager, Mortars (PM Mortars) and
Armament Research, Development, and Engineering Command (ARDEC) at
Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey to design and build a firing system to fulfill the design objectives. An early requirement was that the system had to be a 120 mm system to give sufficient lethality and range. Ultimately, the design team picked parts of the French
Thomson-Daimler Armements (TDA) experimental 2R2M mortar because it had a usable power driven
traverse and
elevation in addition to a loading system. Its 120 mm rifled ammunition promised greater accuracy and range. The project completed the experimental weapon, now called the Dragon Fire, in 17 months. It was used in a series of firing experiments beginning in September 1998. During 1999–2002, the Dragon Fire was used during the Limited Object Experiment (LOE)
Urban Warrior and several follow-on experiments, and the French-made 2R2M mortar mounted in a
MOWAG Piranha vehicle served as a surrogate for a mobile,
Light Armored Vehicle-mounted firing system. These experiments showed that the concept of automating the
fire control, aiming and loading of a medium-range firing system substantially reduced fire mission response times and resulted in accurate, efficient fire. Following successful testing, the Marine Corps initiated a Requirement Document for an Expeditionary Fire Support System (EFSS) to fill the gap in the availability of
supporting fire for the initial air-delivered elements of an expeditionary operation. The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab initiated a follow-on project called Dragon Fire II, which was to be a government-designed, government-produced weapons system and it would incorporate the "lessons learned" with the first Dragon Fire. PM Mortars/ARDEC was again designated to do the design work and to modify the M95 Mortar
Fire Control System (MFCS) to provide the advanced fire control and weapon control for the new system. The project was initiated in 2002, but, not long afterwards, TDA dropped out of the project because of issues concerning sharing of design information and their price, and when
Marine Corps Systems Command made it known that it would be looking for an "off the shelf, commercial system" for the EFSS requirement, the system specifications for the Dragon Fire II were de-scoped to Concept Demonstrator and the budget was reduced. ARDEC contracted with General Dynamics to design the new electric actuators for elevation, traverse, loading and firing and despite some difficulties in that contract, the finished Dragon Fire II, now known as the XM-326 120mm Automated Mortar, was rolled out at
Rock Island Arsenal in September 2005. The new Dragon Fire II was half the weight of the first Dragon Fire, versus over . It was capable of receiving a fire mission over its on-board radio, processing the fire mission, aiming the weapon, loading and firing in any direction within 18 seconds. The Dragon Fire II was incorporated into testing with the Counter Rockets, Artillery, and Mortars (C-RAM) project while it was still undergoing engineering and safety tests at
Yuma Proving Ground. It fired in support of C-RAM's demonstrations and was responsive and accurate, with most rounds landing within a
circular error probable (CEP) of at a range of . During 2007, a
Light Armored Vehicle was modified to accept the Dragon Fire internally as a modular artillery weapon. Over the next months opposition to the Dragon Fire II and to MCWL's involvement in long-term experimentation increased. Funding was first reduced and then cut completely. As a last attempt to use this system, it was converted to become a full-time LAV mortar system for the Marine Corps. This funding was removed in 2009 and the weapon is currently in storage at Picatinny Arsenal. It was proposed to develop a "fire on the move" capability for the Dragon Fire II - Light Armored Vehicle (LAV-M) as the first artillery system to fire accurately from the moving vehicle but the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab ended long-term development projects and all technology funding was cut. == Operation ==