"Hurricane" (MLRS). Russian MLRS 9K57 "Hurricane"

Missile weapons since the USSR, and now in Russia continues to be the main trump card not only in armed conflicts, but also in international negotiations.

However, this rarely comes to this. Where necessary in the everyday army affairs of the system of rocket fire. One of the most common is the "Hurricane". MLRS is widely distributed in the troops, it is quite cheap in production. Considering its reliability and unpretentiousness, one should not be surprised at the desire of the modern Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to modernize this complex, whose history began back in the 60s of the last century!

History of creation

It is generally believed that all domestic developments of this type have a single progenitor - MLRS "Katyusha." In a sense, this is true, but one should never forget that modern systems of volley fire are radically different from the legendary complex.

For example, as guides, domestic designers have long ago abandoned the rail system: it is unreliable, since the trajectory of the projectile's movement is largely arbitrary, and the chance of a charge convergence is quite high.

That is why the true ancestor of MLRS 9k57 "Hurricane" should be considered the M-21V installation, which was put into service in 1963.

Despite the decent characteristics of this MLRS, the military was not completely satisfied with it. So in 1963, Tula received a state defense order to develop a new prospective model, which would not have the drawbacks of the M-21V. To such, the military attributed a relatively small maneuverability, and the damaging effect of its standard projectile was unsatisfactory. Taking into account the lessons of the Great Patriotic War, our military already understood well that the tank columns of the enemy should be "grinded" ahead of time, and therefore one more requirement that was required for a new development was effective action, at least for lightly armored purposes.

Looking ahead, we note that MLRS 9k57 "Hurricane" perfectly copes with this task.

Outline

From 1963 to 1964, the specialists of the Tula Central Design Bureau undertook a comprehensive study of the task assigned to them. The main problem that faced them then was the creation of a MLRS, which would allow the enemy to destroy live and motorized forces at a distance of up to 40 kilometers.

The result of these studies was the "Hurricane" project that had already appeared in the middle of 1964. MLRS of this type assumed the defeat of the enemy at a distance of up to 35 kilometers. Its advantage was high maneuverability, which allowed to quickly produce a volley from a closed position and leave without being detected by the enemy.

In late 1966 - early 1967 in Tula began to carry out a large-scale research work on the prospects for the adoption of a new system for armament. Its result was a comprehensively elaborated concept of the complex, including all the necessary information on the characteristics of the shells and the conditions for their use.

By 1970, the Ministry of Industry had commissioned the final design of a new MLRS 9k57 Hurricane. It should be noted that by the time engineers and scientists were involved in the development, not only Tula alone. So, in Moscow and Moscow Region, Central Design Bureau conducted a comprehensive study of blasting charges and fuse systems. In Kazan, however, they created knock-out charges for shells with a cassette-type warhead.

The result of preliminary tests

The uninitiated reader may be surprised at how much time Soviet industry needed to create just one prototype of this kind of technology. It must be remembered that in those years there simply was no large-scale development in this area. As a result of the hard work and experiments that were carried out in the design offices throughout the country, a unique "Hurricane" system was obtained. MLRS this is still used in dozens of countries around the world.

In particular, with its help they are fighting even in Syria. In general, the time that was spent for these studies, just did not pass for nothing. For example, the same multiple rocket launcher "Smerch" was developed and adopted in the shortest possible time because the lion's share of all calculations was ready.

Let's return to the tests. In 1972, a practically ready prototype of the system was presented to the experts' court, which passed all the factory tests. The main characteristics were as follows:

• The MLRS was equipped with unguided rocket-type and high-explosive rockets, which carried 80 and 105 kilograms of explosive, respectively.
• BM 9P140, for which it was decided to use the standard ZIL-135LM chassis (due to laboriousness and lack of agreements, the caterpillar chassis project was rejected).
• The machine for transportation and loading 9T452, which is put on the chassis all the same ZIL-135LM.
• The complex also included equipment for repair and maintenance of machines.

A couple of years passed the factory dock, as a result of which the present "Hurricane" appeared. MLRS this in 1974 had approximately the same TTX as it is now. Finally, in 1976 the complex was finally adopted for service.

Two years have removed the elimination of some minor shortcomings. In addition, during this time, specialists have developed several new and promising types of shells.

What are the components of the finished complex?

• The combat vehicle itself is 9P140.
• Machine for charging and transporting projectiles 9T452.
• Reactive charges.
• The equipment of automatic fire control and its correction 1В126 "Kapustnik-B".
• Means for training and training of personnel in conditions as close as possible to combat.
• The machine for topographical survey of the area 1T12-2M.
• Complex for direction finding and research of meteorological conditions 1B44.
• Kit for maintenance and repair of equipment 9F381.

Most of all systems are duplicated, so that even damage to them or complete disabling by enemy fire is not an obstacle to accomplishing a combat mission. In addition, most of the operations can be performed manually.

Characteristics of the power plant

The car is driven by two V-shaped ZIL-375 engines, each of them with 180 liters each. from. The wheels on the sides are driven by their engine, have an independent transmission and transmission. The first and fourth axles are fitted with steering wheels.

The machine is equipped not only with a centralized system for monitoring tire pressure, there is the possibility of their automatic pumping directly on the move. The permeability and speed characteristics are very good. At one gas station, you can drive about 600 km, giving a top speed of 65 km / h. The machine easily overcomes water obstacles up to 1.2 m deep without any additional training.

Information about calculation and loading

In peacetime, a calculation of four people is appointed: the machine commander, the gunner and a pair of fighters who are responsible for manual guidance and maintenance. In wartime, the group is increased to six people, as many operations have to be performed manually.

As already mentioned, the transportation and loading of shells is carried out using a special machine 9T452, which is built on the same chassis. Each such machine not only carries 16 shells, but also provides their equipment without the use of additional equipment. The process is fully mechanized, takes no more than 14 minutes. The crane TZM is used, which can be used for lifting loads up to 300 kg by weight.

By the way, the same is used by the Grad rocket fire system.

Charging machine equipment

The equipment for the charging machine itself includes a frame for transportation of projectiles, a sender, a crane and cargo carts. For the operator's work there is a separate site, the shells are captured using a separate "claw". All operations for dispatching projectiles, turning the crane and auxiliary mechanisms are performed automatically, but if necessary they can be carried out manually.

The sender himself is a special guide with a pusher mechanism, which turns the projectile into the right place. Thanks to a simple and effective reconciliation mechanism, the operator is relieved of the need to manually join the guide and the sender. All mechanics work from electric drives, whose generators are completely autonomous, and therefore do not need to start the main engine of the machine for their work.

Used shells

It should be noted that most of the time the engineers took away not the construction of the chassis, but the creation of fundamentally new types of shells. It should be noted that the work on their design proved to be extremely fruitful. So, up to 90% of the information obtained were successfully used in the development of the "Smerch" system.

As a result of numerous experiments, eight or nine main types of shells were created. Currently, some of them are no longer used, because they were replaced by new models. Many of them are classified.

The most common was a projectile 9M27F, equipped with a conventional high-explosive warhead. It is universal, designed to destroy both the enemy's manpower and armored vehicles. The mass of the explosive is only 49 kg with the weight of the whole projectile of 180 kg.

Approximately at the same frequency, the Uragan reactive system uses 9M27K charges, already equipped with a cassette head, "stuffed" with attacking elements. They are extremely effective in the fight against enemy infantry and light equipment.

The shell itself weighs about 271 kg, contains 30 basic elements. In each of them - on 350 damaging parts with an explosive substance. Even at a distance of 100 meters from the epicenter of the explosion, the shell fragment easily punches 2 mm of high-quality homogeneous steel.

Very similar to this charge is the model 9M27K1, also using a cassette part with a lot of damaging elements. The only difference is that the dividing elements (also about 30 pieces), when striking the ground, also jump in addition, increasing the area of the defeat tens of times. In particular, the same is equipped with the Tornado multiple rocket fire system, it is also the Smerch.

The highlight of the complex and the real pride of the designers is the 9M27K2 projectile, intended for remote installation of anti-tank minefields. It uses standard anti-tank mines PTM-1. In one shell there are 24 mines. They are designed to quickly install obstacles when attacking enemy tanks. A distinctive feature of mines is that after 3.4 hours they self-destruct, which makes it possible to launch their own tank units into attack.

Approximately 9M27K3 was developed for the same purposes. The difference is that it uses PFM-1C mines designed to engage the enemy's manpower. One shell contains 312 antipersonnel mines. A volley of one car covers 60 hectares. I must say that this is a very formidable weapon. "Hurricane" is precisely for the possibility of remote installation of full minefields right in front of the enemy's face, earned many excellent reviews in Afghanistan.

Especially for the demolition of enemy fortified defensive points created a projectile 9M51. The head part is equipped with a liquid explosive intended for thermobaric explosion. The drawback of this model is that the maximum firing range does not exceed 13 km.

The 9M27C shell is incendiary. Specially designed for mass destruction not only of the enemy's manpower, but also of the valuable material part (cars in hangars, warehouses with equipment).

As you can see, multiple rocket launcher systems (a review of one of them is presented in the article) can be used not only to cover the entrenched infantry or equipment on the march, but also to solve more delicate and long-term tasks.

Modern prospects and modernization of complexes

As we have repeatedly noted, the complex itself is constantly being modernized, new types of projectiles are being developed. Today the multiple rocket launcher system "Uragan" is in service with the Yemeni army, not to mention all the former CIS. The Ministry of Defense annually concludes contracts for the supply and maintenance of these complexes around the world, so there is definitely no telling about the lack of popularity.

At one time, the Ukrainians moved the MLRS on the chassis of the KrAZ-6322.

Combat application

With the outbreak of the war in Afghanistan , the MLRS considered just perfectly proved itself in combat conditions. In addition, it was repeatedly used by the Syrian military back in the 1980s with numerous conflicts with Israel. This system was repeatedly used by our armed forces against illegal armed formations of militants in the territory of the Chechen Republic.

As the military says, the last time a rocket launcher system of this type was effectively used during the notorious Georgian events of 2008.

What are the prospects?

Many experts say that the Uragan MRSO is now somewhat outdated. The reason for this statement is the fact that the maximum range of enemy defeat is relatively small - only 35 km. The same "Tornado" gives already 80-90 kilometers.

But here we must make an important observation. The fact is that the purpose of these complexes is still different. Do not confuse shells with a caliber of 200 mm with their analogues of 300 mm. The latter (for "Smerch") is not only more, but also much harder. Their length per meter or more exceeds that of the "Hurricane". Accordingly, the time required for recharging and the combat deployment of the complex requires substantially more.

But "Hurricanes" are an excellent alternative to traditional long-range artillery. Even self-propelled howitzers (like Msta-S) shoot no more than 13-30 km, and the action of their shells is much weaker. MLRS also allows in a very short time to deploy a truly deadly system.

One battery (six cars) is capable of destroying several tank companies at once or even "sowing" hundreds of hectares of anti-tank or anti-personnel mines.

It is also not an exaggeration to say that maintenance of more long-range MLRS options is more cost-effective from an economic point of view, and the training of their operators takes longer.

Being modernized, the Hurricane rocket fire system not only acquires new aiming and targeting systems, but also can effectively interact with the UAV. Currently, the armament of the Russian army includes more and more unmanned aerial vehicles, so this possibility is definitely not superfluous.

In a word, these systems still have a lot of prospects to this day.