Somewhere in the Middle East there are guys using iPads to aim their mortars In a previous lifetime as a mortar platoon commander I earned a little digger cred by showing my soldiers how to accurately aim a mortar without sights. With a set of firing tables and an artillery protractor modified by adding a weight to the end of the string to turn it into a plumb-bob. Then, using the protractor aligned with the barrel as an improvised clinometer, I showed them that a lost or damaged sighting mechanism was no reason why the mortarmen couldn't still play. That was in the days before OH&S and the tyranny of risk management. I'm suspecting that the mortar app is possibly a digital clinometer....with range tables to indicate the necessary elevation and charge bag configuration for the plotted range.....hmm....Google maps? Artillery protractor clinometer
The rise of technology is great but it has led to the relative demise of plain old marksmanship. Technology fails and you really need skills that have long been stored in the brain to get the job done.
Here are Java applets for mortar fire controlling and mortar forward observing. http://www.sniperflashcards.com/Instructions_for_Mortar_Fire_Control_Android_Application.pdf In the good old days, had to make do with paper range tables, paper maps, and a mortar plotting board.