Guided mortar rounds used in eastern DRC

The 120 mm guided mortar round that was recovered in North Kivu province in the DRC in June 2023. (United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo via the United Nations Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo)

Sophisticated guided mortar rounds are being used to attack the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) in the eastern province of North Kivu, according to the latest report from the United Nations Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Released on 3 January, the report included a photograph of a previously undocumented 120 mm guided mortar round that was found in Murambi in June 2023. The unexploded munition was missing the pop-out fins that guide it to its target and its tail.

While the group of experts did not identify the mortar round, saying it was working to trace its origin, the report included a marketing image for the 120 mm Stylet round made by Israel's Elbit Systems to illustrate what the munition would have looked like when undamaged.

Elbit says the Stylet is a Global Positioning System (GPS)-guided munition that can be launched from an unmodified mortar and hit targets with an accuracy of 10 circular error probable (CEP) out to a range of 9 km.

The group of experts' report included two other photographs showing the tail from a similar mortar round that was recovered after an attack on a FARDC camp in Kanyamahoro on 24 October 2023.