RZSO BM-14 on the base truck ZIS-151. (BM for Boyevaya Mashina, ‘combat
vehicle’) BM-14 (8U32) – 16-round model (two rows of 8), launcher mounted on the
ZiS-151 truck. Entered service in 1952. Also known as BM-14-16.
140 mm turbojet high-explosive fragmentation projectile RTS-140
(M-14-RP):
1 – rocket chamber; 2 – powder charge; 3 – igniter; 4 – charge base; 5 – internal casing; 6 – bursting charge; 7 – detonator; 8 – detonator cap
RZSO BM-24 on the chassis of the ZIS-151 truck. The BM-24 (8U31) is a multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union. It is capable of launching 240mm rockets from 12 launch tubes. Versions of the BM-24 have been mounted on the ZIL-151 6×6 Truck chassis and the AT-S tracked artillery tractor, forming the BM-24T from the latter. Production began out of Automotive Factory no. 2 in 1947 Moscow.
240mm reactive projectile TRS-24F (M-24F):
1 – fuse; 2 – case; 3 – combat charge; 4 – solid fuel; 5 – engine
RZSO BMD-20F on the ZIS-151 chassis
BM-21 122mm multiple rocket launchers fitted with forty launch tubes
came into service in 1987.
BM-21 122mm Multiple
Rocket Launcher
The BM-21 was by far the best known and most widely deployed
Soviet rocket launcher. Known as the Grad or Hail, the BM-21 could be fitted
with twelve (Grad V), thirty-six (Grad 1) or standard forty (Grad) round
launchers. Its job was to saturate enemy positions and weapons systems with a
deluge of rockets.
The BM-21 was the natural successor to the Red Army’s
wartime Katyusha rocket launchers known as boyevaya mashina (‘combat vehicle’),
utilising the same system of firing a cluster of solid-fuel rockets from a 6×6
truck. However, the BM-21 dispensed with the open rack configuration used on
the wartime BM-13 and BM-31 and the post-war BM-24 and BM-25 in favour of
closed tubes.
Developed in the 1950s and mounted on the Ural-375 truck, this
multiple 122mm rocket launcher first appeared publicly in November 1964. The
truck was selected for its cross-country capabilities, and as with most Soviet
wheeled vehicles it had a central tyre pressure control system to enhance its
performance. For firing purposes the vehicle had to be parked obliquely so that
the blast does not damage the unarmoured truck cab.
As it used a smaller calibre fin-stabilised rocket than any
other system, the enclosed tube launcher could take forty rounds. Each rocket
weighed around 46kg, and they could be fired in salvo, rippled or individually.
Understandably, the effect on the target was devastating: with the warhead
containing 19kg of high explosive, a battery target could be saturated with
almost a ton of HE in around 30 seconds out to a range of 15km.
The only real drawback with the BM-21 was that it could take
up to 15 minutes to reload. The Czechoslovak Army came up with a solution to
this by developing a reload rack that could conduct reloading in less than two
minutes. It consisted of a BM-21 launcher mounted on a Tatra 813 8×8 truck with
the palletised reload behind the cab.
The subsequent Grad 1 and Grad V rockets become operational
in the mid-1970s. The BM-21 first saw action in the 1969 Sino–Soviet border
war, and subsequently was fired in anger during numerous wars around the world.
Well over half a dozen countries have produced their own versions. Soviet motor
rifle and tank divisions fielded rocket launcher battalions consisting of three
battalions, each with twelve launchers. During the Soviet–Afghan War the Kabul
regime employed the ancient 132mm BM-13, while the Soviets fielded the BM-21a
forty tube and BM-21b twenty-six tube 122mm and the BM-22 220mm multiple rocket
launchers.
BM-24 240mm Multiple
Rocket Launcher
The BM-21’s predecessor, the 240mm BM-24, entered service in
the early 1950s. The large 112kg rocket was spin-stabilised and, although
packing a punch, had a shorter range at 11km. The open frame welded steel tube
launcher had two rows of six rounds mounted on the ZIL-157 truck, which
replaced the Zil-131 in 1966. A twelve-round tube launcher was also installed
on the AT-S tracked artillery tractor. The BM-24 was used to support the
motorised rifle divisions of the Soviet Army, but was eventually replaced by
the BM-21. Most were sold off to the Arab states, while Israel captured enough
from Egypt in 1967 to equip a battalion that saw action in the Yom Kippur War
and the 1982 Lebanon War.
BM-25 250mm Multiple
Rocket Launcher
During the 1960s the 250mm BM-25 was the largest multiple
rocket system in service with the Soviet Army. The launcher had six rails and
was carried either on a ZIL-157 truck or on the KrAZ-214 chassis. It came into
service in the late 1950s and had a greater reach than the other systems, with
a range of 30km. The BM-25 rocket launcher battalions were made up of three
batteries, each deploying six launchers. Like the earlier BM-24, it was phased
out in favour of the BM-21.
The BM-27 220mm rocket launcher first saw action against rebel
guerrillas in Afghanistan in the mid-1980s.
BM-22/BM-27 220mm
Uragan (BM 9P140) Multiple Rocket System
Known as the M1977 by NATO, the fifteen-round Uragan
(‘hurricane’) went into service with the Soviet Army in 1975. Until the
introduction of the Smerch, the Uragan was the largest system of its type in
service. (The BM-24 240mm and BMD-20 200mm truck-mounted rocket systems had
been retired many years before.) In some units it was also used to replace the
shorter-range BM-21. The BM-27 first saw action against the Mujahideen in
Afghanistan from 1984, but as American-supplied surface-to-air missiles began
to curtail Soviet helicopter gunship operations from 1986–87, numbers were
greatly enhanced. The Afghans dubbed it the BM-40, as they believed it had a
40km range.
The BM 9P 140 was mounted on a ZIL-135LM 8×8 chassis, which
was also used with the FROG-7, greatly enhancing the launcher’s mobility. The
launcher pod comprised an upper layer of four tubes, with two lower layers of
six tubes each. Two engines were to the rear, while the unarmoured crew
compartment was at the front. When firing, two stabilisers were lowered at the
rear and steel shutters raised over the windscreen. A full salvo took just 20
seconds to fire. The launcher had to be traversed to the side and horizontal
for reloading, which could take up to 30 minutes.
BM-21 122mm Prima (BM
9A 51) Multiple Rocket System
Like the Smerch, the Prima entered operational service in
the late 1980s. It consisted of a 122mm launcher based on a 6×6 Ural-4320 truck
chassis and was essentially an updated BM-21. The launcher comprised five
layers, each of ten tubes, inside a rectangular box frame. It could fire all
the standard BM-21 rockets.
The powerful BM-30 Smerch (‘tornado’) fires twelve 300mm rockets from a
modified MAZ-543 truck chassis.
BM-30 300mm Smerch
(BM 9A 52) Multiple Rocket System
The twelve-round 300mm Smerch (‘tornado’) multiple rocket
system entered service in 1987. Its NATO reporting name was the M1983. The
elevating launcher was mounted on a modified 8×8 MAZ-543M cross-country truck
chassis. The slightly unusual rocket tube arrangement consisted of two separate
banks of four, with four further tubes in a single row over the top. For
stability before firing, two stabilisers positioned on either side between the
rear two road wheels were lowered. The system could conduct either single round
or salvo firing. The launcher was supported by a reload vehicle carrying twelve
rockets and a crane. It was designed to destroy enemy artillery, missile and
mortar batteries, as well as enemy strongpoints. The minimum range of the
rocket was 20km, and its maximum range was 70km. Each brigade had four
battalions, each with twelve launchers.
