Mortar Strike

The Mortar Strike is a 'gadget' usable in the Bad Company series. It is the Bad Company series' equivalent to'' 'Battlefield 2s Artillery strike.

Battlefield: Bad Company
In Battlefield: Bad Company, the mortar strike take the appearance of a GPS. The player will push a small, dark green button to start transmitting the coordinates. This causes 120mm mortar shells to fall from the sky which are mainly effective against soft targets. The mortar strike is available to the support class.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2
In Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the Mortar Strike takes the appearance of a laser designator used by the recon class in the first Bad Company. Similar to Bad Company, 120mm mortar shells will fall from the sky. Unlike Bad Company, mortars are effective against hard targets too, although the duration of the strike is shorter. The mortar strike is available to the recon class. This weapon is featured in one of the squad stories at the end of the sequence.

In multiplayer, the Mortar Strike is the second unlockable for the Recon class, and if selected it replaces the C4 normally available to the class. Your character will pull out a pair of laser designator binoculars to lock onto the target you wish to destroy. Then, you simply hold down the fire button; a few seconds later, the bombardment will splash, injuring and destroying nearby enemy units.

This is typically useful on smaller areas with close M-COM stations such as Isla Innocentes, as you have a very high probability of killing some enemies or even destroying the M-COM station. On a map with a good area for campers such as the Pit in Port Valdez, there are usually multiple players there so there is a good chance of killing people and destroying the base too in one well placed mortar strike. The mortar strike is most effective when called on an objective that has just been armed to catch any enemies trying to defuse it.

Please note, that you may have to lead the target of your airstrike, as the mortar strike is not immediate. Mobile units can escape the blast radius if the player isn't careful with the call for fire.

Tips

 * Mortars are fairly effective at destroying objective buildings, but require that a shell actually hit a section of wall. Occasionally, with enough mortar bombardment, a building will collapse and destroy the M-COM station inside.
 * When targeted at a multistory building, some mortar shells will detonate in the lower floors as if they have a delayed detonation.
 * The Mortar Strikes have bad range, as gazing at a target at long range will just make the mortars strike at it's farthest range possible.
 * Be very careful when concealing yourself in a bush and using the mortar strike. It is easy to accidentally "target" a leaf from the bush that is in your field of vision, causing the mortar strike to fall directly on your position.

Trivia:

 * Flynn, and sometimes the announcer of your mortar strike, will say he's "Sending in some '60 Mike Mikes." This is wrong as the shells are 120mm, not 60mm.
 * The gadget emblem for the binoculars looks slightly like an old man-portable mortar strike.