[daviddennis]

A quick lookup - and people can freely correct me if I'm wrong - indicates that 81mm howitzers haven't been in significant use since World War II.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vehicles_of_the_U.S._Armed_Forces
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M2_Half_Track_Car
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3_Half-track

So it seems unlikey to say the least that the Iraqis would have much interest in such a producct, at least not for that use.

Didn't the tubes also have to be made to a higher precision than the howitzer tubes?

D

[RayRobisonblog]

FYI, from what I read these type of tubes were used in the past (this specification but I don't think the same aluminum alloy) as the housing of a rocket. The missile body frame. Nothing to do with artillery as a launcher of a projectile and nothing to do with a missile launching platform, just the rocket itself, from what I read.