Reactive systems of the volley fire of Russia

Since the time of the glorified Katyusha much has changed. Battle tactics, armament, state borders ... But the system of the volley fire of Russia and to this day are extremely important on the battlefield. With their help, you can throw shells of enormous destructive power for tens of kilometers, destroying and disabling fortified areas, enemy armored vehicles and its living force.

Our country occupies a leading position in the field of developing a MLRS: old products are constantly being improved and new models of these weapons are appearing. Today, we will consider what systems of the volley fire of Russia today are in the arsenal of the army.

Grad

MLRS caliber 122 mm. It is intended for the destruction of the enemy's manpower, the remote setting of minefields, the destruction of the fortified positions of the enemy. Can fight light and medium armored vehicles. When creating the machine, the Ural-4320 chassis is used, on which the guides for 122mm shells are placed. You can transport ammunition to the "Grad" on any machine that has suitable dimensions.

The number of guides for projectiles is 40 pieces, arranged in four rows of ten pieces each. The fire can be fired either by single shots or by one-shot volley, which takes less than a minute (no more than 20 seconds). The maximum range of fire is up to 20.5 kilometers. The affected area is four hectares. "Grad" can be successfully used in the widest temperature range: from -50 to +50 degrees Celsius.

Fire control is possible both from the cockpit and outside it, and in the latter case the calculation uses a remote wired remote control (range - up to 50 meters). Since the designers foreseen the successive descent of projectiles from the guides, the combat vehicle is relatively weakly swinging during firing. It takes no more than three to four minutes to bring the unit into combat position. Chassis can overcome fords depths up to one and a half meters.

Combat application

Where did these systems of volley fire use Russia? First, their baptism of fire took place in Afghanistan. As recalled by the survivors of the shelling of the Mujahideen (and there were very few of them): "There was a real hell around, clods of earth soared to the skies. We thought that the end of the world came. " The installation was widely used during both Chechen campaigns, during the "war of three eights", when Georgia was forced to peace.

However, the first experience of using these, then still secret installations was received long before the events described. It happened during the incident on the Damansky Peninsula, later given to China. When the second wave of Chinese troops could still break through to its territory and consolidate there, an order was issued to use Grads. At first, the Soviet Union in general wanted to use nuclear weapons, but there were fears of reaction from the international community. Whatever it was, but the PLA was enough and this: a directed volley of dozens of Grads simply plowed this piece of disputed territory.

How many Chinese died there, for sure it will not be possible to find out. Soviet military leaders believed that at least 3,000 people crossed the peninsula. In any case, the survivors were not exactly.

Current state of affairs

Today it is considered that Grads are morally and technically obsolete. Many of these machines, which are now in service with our army, have almost completely developed their resources. In addition, the troops are being rearmed and their "Tornado" MLRS is saturated. But for "old men" is still far from over. The fact is that the Ministry of Defense still wants to leave in the ranks of the army an extremely well-established, cheap and effective machine.

In this regard, a special project was created to modernize them and bring them to modern look and efficiency. In particular, the normal model of satellite navigation was finally installed on the old model, as well as the Baget computer, which controls the process of launching shells. On the assurances of the military, a relatively simple update procedure went to Grads for good, as their combat potential grew several times.

This technique is used by all parties to the conflict on Ukrainian territory. Militant Africans, who received MLRS from the USSR, also love this weapon. In short, the geography of distribution of the installation is enormous. This is what the Grad rocket system is characterized by. "Smerch", which we will describe below, is many times more powerful and has a terrible destructive power.

"Tornado"

A truly awesome weapon. In comparison with it, "Grad" is really similar in efficiency with the same natural phenomenon. Judge for yourself: the Americans believe that the "Smerch" is a volley fire, the characteristics of which would be more suitable for a compact complex with a nuclear munition.

And they are absolutely right. This installation for one volley alone "covers" the unreal 629 hectares of area with a range of shooting up to 70 kilometers. And that's not it. Today new types of shells are being developed, which will fly for a hundred kilometers. On the square, which covered these systems of the volley fire of Russia, everything burns, including heavy armored vehicles. Like the previous MLRS, "Smerch" can be operated in the widest range of temperatures.

It is intended for large-scale processing of enemy positions before the offensive, destruction of particularly strong bunkers and bunkers, destruction of large concentrations of enemy manpower and enemy equipment.

Chassis, guides for launching projectiles

The chassis is based on the high-cross-country vehicle MAZ-543. Unlike Grad, this installation is much more dangerous for the enemy, also because the battery includes the fire control system Vivarium, which allows achieving the highest efficiency, which is more typical for barrel artillery systems.

These rocket launchers have 12 tubular guides for projectiles. Each of them weighs 80 kilograms, with 280 of them accounting for the charge of a powerful explosive. Armament specialists believe that this ratio is an ideal option for unguided projectiles, since it allows to combine powerful military engines and huge destructive potential in the ammunition.

And another feature of the shells of the "Smerch". The designers worked on this for a long time, but they made sure that the angle of their fall to the ground was equal to 90 degrees. Such a "meteorite" is easy to pierce through any OBE probabilistic enemy, and concrete structures are unlikely to resist such a power. Currently, the production of the new "Smerch" is not planned (most likely), since they will be replaced by the new "Tornado" at the fighting post.

However, there is some probability that the old complexes will still undergo modernization. It is absolutely certain that their new ammunition can include new types of missiles with active guidance, so that the combat capabilities of the complex are far from exhausted.

What other rocket launchers do we have?

"Hurricane"

Adopted in the 70's of the last century. According to combat effectiveness, it takes an intermediate position between "Grad" and "Tornado". So, the maximum range of fire is 35 kilometers. In general, the "Hurricane" is the installation of a salvo fire, when designing it, many principles were laid down, which are still used by developers of such weapons in our country. Created its famous designer Yuri Kalachnikov.

By the way, "Hurricane" is the installation of a volley fire, which the Soviet Union at one time supplied to Yemen in large quantities, where combat operations are now intensively being conducted. Surely soon we will find out how effective the old Soviet technique has been in the battles. The domestic armed forces, along with Grads, also used the Hurricane during the war in Afghanistan.

The installation was also widely used in Chechnya, and then in Georgia. There is information that with the help of the "Hurricanes" the column of the advancing Georgian tanks was somehow completely destroyed (according to other sources, they were Grads).

Structure of the complex

On the chassis of the ZIL-135LM cross-country vehicle, 16 tubular guides were installed (originally it was planned that there will be 20 of them). The Ukrainians at one time modernized the cars that they got, putting them on the chassis of their Kremenchug KrAZ. The combat compartment of these units includes the following components:

• Directly the machine 9P140.

• Transport for transportation and loading of shells 9T452.

• A set of ammunition.

• The fire control machine on the basis of the installation 1В126 "Kapustnik-B".

• Means for training and calculation training.

• The station of topographical reconnaissance 1Т12-2М.

• Complex of direction finding and meteorology 1B44.

• A complete set of equipment and tools 9F381, designed for repair and maintenance of machines from the complex.

What else characterizes the system of the volley fire of Russia "Hurricane"? The artillery part is made on the swivel base of the mechanism for balancing, and is also equipped with hydraulic and electromechanical drives. A massive package of guides can be induced between 5 and 55 degrees.

Horizontal guidance can be carried out at an angle of 30 degrees to the right and left of the center axis of the combat vehicle. In order to avoid the risk of heavy chassis being filled with a massive volley, two powerful fighting stops are provided in the rear part of the chassis. The complex is also equipped with night vision devices, and therefore can be operated in the dark.

Currently, the Armed Forces of Russia still operate about one and a half hundred of these machines. Most likely, they will not be subjected to modernization, but they will write off right after the full development of the combat resource. This is due to the fact that a new MLRS system was adopted, which includes all the advantages of the old models.

"Tornado"

This is a new system of volley fire in Russia. Its development began in connection with the fact that the old Grads, which had been in service for more than forty years, urgently needed a replacement. As a result of intense design work, this machine also appeared.

Unlike their predecessors, the Tornado systems of the volley fire of Russia are much more perfect in the field of guidance and accuracy of shooting, since they can use topographic data transmitted from satellites. But not only is this the newly created MLRS.

The fact is that previously for each task Soviet industry created a separate installation: in fact, this is exactly how the meteorological "zoo" appeared in the form of Grad, Smerch and Hurricane. But modern systems of the volley fire of Russia ("Tornado") will be produced in three versions at once, using the shells of all the three machines described above. It is assumed that the designers will provide the opportunity to quickly replace the artillery part, so that one chassis can be used in different qualities.

New shells

In addition, all previous systems had one big drawback, related to the uncontrollability of ammunition. Simply put, it was not possible to adjust the course of the already produced shells. All this was quite suitable for wars of the past decades, but under present conditions it is already inadmissible. To solve this problem, new types of projectiles with active optical and laser guidance were created for the Tornado. Henceforth MLRS have turned to essentially new, extremely dangerous kind of the weapon.

Thus, modern rocket launcher systems of Russia at present can be compared in efficiency with the most perfect examples of barrel artillery, hitting the target for tens of kilometers. Unlike the most perfect "Smerch" in this plan, the range of shooting at the "Tornado" is already up to 100 kilometers (using the appropriate projectiles).

Meeting new and old

As we already wrote at the very beginning of the article, at the present time we are also working on the improvement of the old Grads, which are still quite a few in service. And then the designers visited the idea: "And what if using a simple, technological chassis from Grad, installing a new combat module from the Tornado of the appropriate caliber?" The plan was quickly implemented.

So the new machine "Tornado-G" appeared on the light. Officially, it was adopted in 2013, at the same time supplies to the troops began. On the "Tank Biathlon - 2014" a new MLRS was demonstrated to all comers.

Unlike both predecessors of this technique, the control system "Kapustnik-BM" is included in the design, which several times increases the combat capabilities of the complex. In addition, the process of firing and firing was greatly simplified: now the crew does not need to go outside, as all the necessary topographic data is displayed in real time on monitors installed inside the cabin. From there you can set a target and launch the projectiles.

Such upgrades not only modernized the old complex, but also significantly ensured the crew. Now the machine can quickly make a volley from a closed position and leave it, having spent no more than one and a half minutes. This dramatically reduces the risk of detection and destruction of the complex by a retaliatory blow from the enemy. In addition, due to the use of new shells with detachable warheads, it is now possible to significantly expand the range of possible combat modules.

These are the current systems of the volley fire of Russia. Their photos are given in the article, so you can make an approximate impression of their power.