Katyusha firing range in World War 2. Katyusha - a unique combat vehicle of the USSR (interesting). The one with whom rocket artillery began

Tests of new weapons made a strong impression even on worldly-wise military leaders. Indeed, the combat vehicles shrouded in smoke and flame fired sixteen 132-mm rocket projectiles in a few seconds, and where the targets had just been seen, fiery tornadoes were already spinning, flooding the distant horizon with a crimson glow.

This is how the demonstration of unusual military equipment took place to the high command of the Red Army, headed by People's Commissar of Defense Marshal S.K. Timoshenko. It was in mid-May 1941, and a week after the start of World War II, an experimental separate rocket artillery battery of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command was formed. A few days later, production began to hand over to the army the first serial BM-13-16 - the famous "Katyusha".

The history of the creation of the guards jet mortar has been rocking since the twenties. Even then, Soviet military science saw future military operations as maneuverable, with extensive use of motorized troops and modern equipment - tanks, aircraft, vehicles. And the classic receiver hardly fit into this holistic picture
artillery. Much more consistent with it were light and mobile rocket launchers. The lack of recoil when fired, low weight and simple design made it possible to do without traditional heavy carriages and beds. Instead of them - light and openwork guides made of pipes, which could be mounted on any truck. True, lower than that of guns, accuracy and low firing range
prevented the adoption of rocket artillery into service.

At first, the gas-dynamic laboratory, where rocket weapons were created, had more difficulties and failures than successes. However, enthusiasts - engineers N. I. Tikhomirov, V. A. Artemyev, and then G. E. Langeman and B. S. Petropavlovsky stubbornly improved their “brainchild”, firmly believing in the success of the business. Extensive theoretical developments and countless experiments were required, which eventually led to the creation at the end of 1927 of the 82-mm fragmentation rocket with a powder engine, and after it the more powerful 132 mm caliber. Test firing conducted near Leningrad in March 1928 was encouraging - the range was already 5-6 km, although the dispersion was still large. For many years it was not possible to significantly reduce it: the original concept involved a projectile with plumage that did not go beyond its caliber. After all, a pipe served as a guide for him - simple, light, convenient for installation.

In 1933, engineer I. T. Kleimenov proposed to make a more developed plumage, significantly (more than 2 times) exceeding the caliber of the projectile in its scope. The accuracy of fire increased, and the flight range also increased, but new open - in particular, rail - guides for shells had to be designed. And again years of experiments, searches...

By 1938, the main difficulties in creating mobile rocket artillery had been overcome. Employees of the Moscow RNII Yu. A. Pobedonostsev, F. N. Poida, L. E. Schwartz and others developed 82-mm fragmentation, high-explosive fragmentation and thermite shells (PC) with a solid propellant (powder) engine, which was launched by a remote electric fuse.

The baptism of fire RS-82, mounted on I-16 and I-153 fighter aircraft, took place in the summer of 1939 on the river

Khalkhin Gol, showing high combat effectiveness there - several Japanese aircraft were shot down in air battles. At the same time, for firing at ground targets, the designers proposed several options for mobile multi-shot multiple rocket launchers (by area). Engineers V. N. Galkovsky, I. I. Gvai, A. P. Pavlenko, A. S. Popov took part in their creation under the guidance of A. G. Kostikov.

The installation consisted of eight open guide rails interconnected into a single whole by tubular welded spars. 16 132-mm rocket projectiles (each weighing 42.5 kg) were fixed using T-shaped pins on top and bottom of the guides in pairs. The design provided for the ability to change the angle of elevation and turn in azimuth. Aiming at the target was carried out through the sight by rotating the handles of the lifting and turning mechanisms. The installation was mounted on the chassis of a three-ton truck - the then common ZIS-5 truck, and in the first version, relatively short rails were located across the vehicle, which received the general name MU-1 (mechanized installation). This decision was unsuccessful - when firing, the car swayed, which significantly reduced the accuracy of the battle.

In September 1939, they created the MU-2 reactive system on a three-axle ZIS-6 truck more suitable for this purpose. In this version, elongated rails were installed along the car, the rear of which was additionally hung on jacks before firing. The mass of the vehicle with a crew (5-7 people) and full ammunition was 8.33 tons, the firing range reached 8470 m. kg of high-performance explosive. The three-axle ZIS-6 provided the MU-2 with quite satisfactory mobility on the ground, allowing it to quickly make a march maneuver and change positions. And to transfer the car from the traveling position to the combat position, 2-3 minutes were enough.

In 1940, after modifications, the world's first mobile multiply charged multiple launch rocket launcher, called the M-132, successfully passed factory and field tests. By the beginning of 1941, an experimental batch of them had already been produced. She received the army designation BM-13-16, or simply BM-13, and a decision was made on its industrial production. At the same time, they approved and put into service the BM-82-43 light mobile installation of massive fire, on the rails of which 48 82-mm rockets with a firing range of 5500 m were placed. More often it was called briefly - BM-8. No army in the world had such a powerful weapon then.

The history of the creation of the ZIS-6
Of no less interest is the history of the creation of the ZIS-6, which became the basis for the legendary Katyushas. The mechanization and motorization of the Red Army carried out in the 30s urgently required the production of three-axle off-road vehicles for use as transport vehicles, artillery tractors, and for mounting various installations. In the early 1930s, in order to work in difficult road conditions, primarily for use in the army, the domestic automobile industry began to develop three-axle vehicles with two rear-driving axles (6 X 4) based on standard two-axle trucks. The addition of another rear drive axle increased the carrying capacity of the machine by one and a half times, while simultaneously reducing the load on the wheels. This contributed to an increase in cross-country ability on soft soils - a damp meadow, sand, arable land. And the increased grip weight made it possible to develop greater traction, for which the machines were equipped with an additional two-, three-stage gearbox - a demultiplier with a gear ratio range of 1.4-2.05. In February 1931, it was decided to organize mass production of three-axle vehicles in the USSR by three automobile plants in the country on the basis of base vehicles with a carrying capacity of 1.5, 2.5 and 5 tons accepted for production.

In 1931-1932, in the design bureau of the Moscow Automobile Plant AMO, under the leadership of the head of the design bureau, E.I. Vazhinsky, the three-axle truck AMO-6 was designed (designers A.S. Aizenberg, Kyan Ke Min, A.I. cars of the new family AMO-5, AMO-7, AMO-8, with their wide unification. The prototypes for the first Amov trios were English trucks VD (“Var Department”), as well as the domestic development of AMO-3-NATI.

The first two experimental vehicles AMO-6 were tested on June 25 - July 4, 1938 in the Moscow - Minsk - Moscow run. A year later, the plant began manufacturing a pilot batch of these machines, called the ZIS-6. In September, they participated in a test run Moscow - Kyiv - Kharkov - Moscow, and in December their mass production began. In total, in 1933, 20 "trehosok" were made. After the reconstruction of the plant, the production of ZIS-6 increased (until 1939, when 4460 vehicles were manufactured), and continued until October 16, 1941, the day the plant was evacuated. In total, 21239 ZIS-6s were produced during this time.

The machine was maximally unified with the base model of the three-ton ZIS-5 and even had the same external dimensions. It had the same six-cylinder 73 hp carburetor engine. with., the same clutch, gearbox, front axle, front suspension, wheels, steering, cab, plumage. The frame, rear axles, rear suspension, brake drive were different. Behind the standard four-speed gearbox was a two-speed range with direct and low (1.53) gears. Further, the torque was transmitted by two cardan shafts to the through rear drive axles with a worm gear, made according to the Timken type. Leading worms were located on top, below - worm wheels made of special bronze. (True, back in 1932, two ZIS-6R trucks with gear two-stage rear axles were built, which had much better characteristics. But in the automotive industry at that time there was a passion for worm gears, and this solved the matter. And they returned to gear gears only in the fall of 1940 of the year on experimental three-axle all-wheel drive (6 X 6) trucks ZIS-36). The ZIS-6 transmission had three cardan shafts with open Cleveland type universal joints that required regular lubrication.

The bogie of the rear axles had a balancing spring suspension of the VD type. On each side there were two springs with one sprung hinged to the frame. The torques from the bridges were transmitted to the frame by the upper jet rods and springs, they also transmitted pushing forces.

Serial ZIS-6 had a mechanical brake drive on all wheels with vacuum boosters, while the prototypes used hydraulic brakes. The hand brake is central, on the transmission, and at first it was a band brake, and then replaced by a shoe brake. Compared to the base ZIS-5, the ZIS-6 had a reinforced cooling system radiator and generator; two batteries and two gas tanks are installed (for a total of 105 liters of fuel).

The own weight of the ZIS-6 was 4230 kg. On good roads, it could carry up to 4 tons of cargo, on bad roads - 2.5 tons. The maximum speed is 50-55 km / h, the average off-road speed is 10 km / h. The vehicle could climb 20° and ford up to 0.65 m deep.

In general, the ZIS-6 was a fairly reliable car, although due to the low power of the overloaded engine, it had poor dynamics, high fuel consumption (40-41 liters per 100 km on the highway, up to 70 on the country road) and poor cross-country ability.

As a cargo transport vehicle in the army, it was practically not used, but was used as a tractor for artillery systems. On its basis, repair flying houses, workshops, fuel trucks, fire escapes, and cranes were built. In 1935, a heavy armored car BA-5, which turned out to be unsuccessful, was mounted on the ZIS-6 chassis, and at the end of 1939, a more successful BA-11 was mounted on a shortened chassis with an increased power engine. But the ZIS-6 acquired the greatest fame as the carrier of the first BM-13 rocket launchers.

On the night of June 30, 1941, under the command of Captain I. A. Flerov, the first experimental battery of rocket launchers set off to the west, consisting of seven experimental BM-13 installations (with 8 thousand shells) and a sighting 122-mm howitzer.

And two weeks later, on July 14, 1941, Flerov's battery, observing complete secrecy - they moved mainly at night, by country roads, avoiding crowded highways - arrived in the area of ​​​​the Orshitsa River. The day before, the Germans had captured the city of Orsha with a blow from the south, and now, not for a moment doubting their success, they were crossing the eastern bank of the Orshitsa. But then bright flashes lit up the sky: with a rattle and a deafening hiss, rocket shells fell on the crossing. A moment later, they rushed into the thick of the moving stream of fascist troops. Each rocket projectile formed an eight-meter funnel in the ground, one and a half meters deep. The Nazis had never seen anything like it before. Fear and panic seized the ranks of the Nazis ...

The debut of jet weapons, stunning for the enemy, prompted our industry to speed up the serial production of a new mortar. However, for the "Katyushas" at first there were not enough self-propelled chassis - carriers of rocket launchers. They tried to restore the production of ZIS-6 at the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant, where the Moscow ZIS was evacuated in October 1941, but the lack of specialized equipment for the production of worm axles did not allow this to be done. In October 1941, the T-60 tank (without a turret) with the BM-8-24 installation mounted on it was put into service.

Rocket launchers were also equipped with STZ-5 tracked tractors, Ford Marmon, International Jimsea and Austin off-road vehicles received under Lend-Lease. But the largest number of Katyushas were mounted on Studebaker all-wheel drive three-axle vehicles, including from 1944 the new, more powerful BM-31-12 - with 12 M-30 and M-31 mines of 300 mm caliber, weighing 91 .5 kg (firing range - up to 4325 m). To increase the accuracy of fire, the M-13UK and M-31UK projectiles with improved accuracy were created and mastered in flight.

The share of rocket artillery on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War was constantly increasing. If in November 1941 45 Katyusha divisions were formed, then on January 1, 1942 there were already 87 of them, in October 1942 - 350, and at the beginning of 1945 - 519. During the 1941 year alone, the industry manufactured 593 installations and provided them with shells in the amount of 25-26 volleys for each car. Parts of jet mortars received the honorary title of guards. Separate BM-13 installations on the ZIS-6 chassis served throughout the war and reached Berlin and Prague. One of them, No. 3354, commanded by Guards Sergeant Masharin, Now it is in the exposition of the Leningrad Museum of Artillery, Engineering Troops and Communications.

Unfortunately, all the monuments to the guards mortars erected in their honor in Moscow, Mtsensk, Orsha, Rudin are based on an imitation of the ZIS-6 chassis. But in the memory of the veterans of the Great Patriotic War, the Katyusha was preserved as an angular, old-fashioned three-axle car with a formidable weapon mounted on it, which played a huge role in the defeat of fascism.

The performance characteristics of the BM-13 "Katyusha":

"Katyusha"- the popular name for rocket artillery combat vehicles BM-8 (with 82 mm shells), BM-13 (132 mm) and BM-31 (310 mm) during the Great Patriotic War. There are several versions of the origin of this name, the most likely of them is associated with the factory mark "K" of the manufacturer of the first combat vehicles BM-13 (Voronezh Plant named after the Comintern), as well as with the popular song of the same name at that time (music by Matvey Blanter, lyrics by Mikhail Isakovsky).
(Military Encyclopedia. Chairman of the Main Editorial Commission S.B. Ivanov. Military Publishing. Moscow. In 8 volumes -2004. ISBN 5 - 203 01875 - 8)

The fate of the first separate experimental battery was cut short in early October 1941. After the baptism of fire near Orsha, the battery successfully operated in battles near Rudnya, Smolensk, Yelnya, Roslavl and Spas-Demensk. During the three months of hostilities, Flerov's battery not only inflicted considerable material damage on the Germans, it also contributed to raising the morale of our soldiers and officers, exhausted by continuous retreats.

The Nazis staged a real hunt for new weapons. But the battery did not stay long in one place - having fired a volley, it immediately changed its position. A tactical technique - a volley - a change of position - was widely used by Katyusha units during the war.

In early October 1941, as part of the grouping of troops on the Western Front, the battery ended up in the rear of the Nazi troops. When moving to the front line from the rear on the night of October 7, she was ambushed by the enemy near the village of Bogatyr, Smolensk region. Most of the battery personnel and Ivan Flerov died, having shot all the ammunition and blowing up the combat vehicles. Only 46 soldiers managed to get out of the encirclement. The legendary battalion commander and the rest of the fighters, who fulfilled their duty with honor to the end, were considered "missing." And only when it was possible to find documents from one of the army headquarters of the Wehrmacht, which reported what actually happened on the night of October 6-7, 1941 near the Smolensk village of Bogatyr, Captain Flerov was excluded from the list of missing persons.

For heroism, Ivan Flerov was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree in 1963, and in 1995 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation posthumously.

In honor of the feat of the battery, a monument was erected in the city of Orsha and an obelisk near the city of Rudnya.

After the 82-mm air-to-air missiles RS-82 (1937) and the 132-mm air-to-ground missiles RS-132 (1938) were adopted by aviation, the Main Artillery Directorate set before the projectile developer - Reactive Research Institute - the task of creating a reactive field multiple launch rocket system based on RS-132 shells. An updated tactical and technical assignment was issued to the institute in June 1938.

In accordance with this task, by the summer of 1939, the institute developed a new 132-mm high-explosive fragmentation projectile, which later received the official name M-13. Compared to the aviation RS-132, this projectile had a longer flight range and a much more powerful warhead. The increase in flight range was achieved by increasing the amount of propellant, for this it was necessary to lengthen the rocket and head parts of the rocket projectile by 48 cm. The M-13 projectile had slightly better aerodynamic characteristics than the RS-132, which made it possible to obtain higher accuracy.

A self-propelled multiply charged launcher was also developed for the projectile. Its first version was created on the basis of the ZIS-5 truck and was designated MU-1 (mechanized installation, first sample). Conducted in the period from December 1938 to February 1939, field tests of the installation showed that it did not fully meet the requirements. Taking into account the test results, the Reactive Research Institute developed a new MU-2 launcher, which in September 1939 was accepted by the Main Artillery Directorate for field tests. Based on the results of field tests that ended in November 1939, the Institute was ordered five launchers for military testing. Another installation was ordered by the Artillery Directorate of the Navy for use in the coastal defense system.

On June 21, 1941, the installation was demonstrated to the leaders of the CPSU (6) and the Soviet government, and on the same day, just a few hours before the start of World War II, it was decided to urgently deploy the mass production of M-13 rockets and the launcher, which received the official name BM-13 (combat vehicle 13).

The production of BM-13 installations was organized at the Voronezh plant. Comintern and at the Moscow plant "Compressor". One of the main enterprises for the production of rockets was the Moscow plant. Vladimir Ilyich.

During the war, the production of launchers was urgently deployed at several enterprises with different production capabilities, in connection with this, more or less significant changes were made to the design of the installation. Thus, up to ten varieties of the BM-13 launcher were used in the troops, which made it difficult to train personnel and adversely affected the operation of military equipment. For these reasons, a unified (normalized) BM-13N launcher was developed and put into service in April 1943, during the creation of which the designers critically analyzed all the parts and assemblies in order to increase the manufacturability of their production and reduce the cost, as a result of which all the nodes received independent indexes and became universal. Compound

The composition of the BM-13 "Katyusha" includes the following weapons:

Combat vehicle (BM) MU-2 (MU-1);
Rockets.
Rocket M-13:

The M-13 projectile consists of a warhead and a powder jet engine. The head part in its design resembles a high-explosive fragmentation projectile and is equipped with an explosive charge, which is detonated by a contact fuse and an additional detonator. The jet engine has a combustion chamber in which a powder propellant charge is placed in the form of cylindrical pieces with an axial channel. Pirozapals are used to ignite the powder charge. The gases formed during the combustion of powder pellets flow through a nozzle, in front of which there is a diaphragm that prevents the pellets from being ejected through the nozzle. Stabilization of the projectile in flight is provided by a tail stabilizer with four feathers welded from stamped steel halves. (This method of stabilization provides lower accuracy compared to stabilization by rotation around the longitudinal axis, however, it allows you to get a longer range of the projectile. In addition, the use of a feathered stabilizer greatly simplifies the technology for the production of rockets).

The flight range of the M-13 projectile reached 8470 m, but at the same time there was a very significant dispersion. According to the firing tables of 1942, with a firing range of 3000 m, the lateral deviation was 51 m, and in range - 257 m.

In 1943, a modernized version of the rocket was developed, which received the designation M-13-UK (improved accuracy). To increase the accuracy of fire of the M-13-UK projectile, 12 tangentially located holes are made in the front centering thickening of the rocket part, through which, during the operation of the rocket engine, a part of the powder gases comes out, causing the projectile to rotate. Although the range of the projectile was somewhat reduced (to 7.9 km), the improvement in accuracy led to a decrease in the dispersion area and to an increase in the density of fire by 3 times compared to the M-13 projectiles. The adoption of the M-13-UK projectile into service in April 1944 contributed to a sharp increase in the firing capabilities of rocket artillery.

Launcher MLRS "Katyusha":

A self-propelled multiply charged launcher was developed for the projectile. Its first version - MU-1 based on the ZIS-5 truck had 24 guides mounted on a special frame in a transverse position with respect to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. Its design made it possible to launch rockets only perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and jets of hot gases damaged the elements of the installation and the body of the ZIS-5. Security was also not ensured when controlling fire from the driver's cab. The launcher swayed strongly, which worsened the accuracy of firing rockets. Loading the launcher from the front of the rails was inconvenient and time consuming. The ZIS-5 car had limited cross-country ability.

A more advanced MU-2 launcher based on a ZIS-6 off-road truck had 16 guides located along the axis of the vehicle. Each two guides were connected, forming a single structure, called "spark". A new unit was introduced into the design of the installation - a subframe. The subframe made it possible to assemble the entire artillery part of the launcher (as a single unit) on it, and not on the chassis, as it was before. Once assembled, the artillery unit was relatively easy to mount on the chassis of any brand of car with minimal modification of the latter. The created design made it possible to reduce the complexity, manufacturing time and cost of launchers. The weight of the artillery unit was reduced by 250 kg, the cost - by more than 20 percent. Both the combat and operational qualities of the installation were significantly increased. Due to the introduction of reservations for the gas tank, gas pipeline, side and rear walls of the driver's cab, the survivability of launchers in battle was increased. The firing sector was increased, the stability of the launcher in the stowed position was increased, improved lifting and turning mechanisms made it possible to increase the speed of aiming the installation at the target. Before launch, the MU-2 combat vehicle was jacked up similarly to the MU-1. The forces that rock the launcher, due to the location of the guides along the chassis of the car, were applied along its axis to two jacks located near the center of gravity, so the rocking became minimal. Loading in the installation was carried out from the breech, that is, from the rear end of the guides. It was more convenient and allowed to significantly speed up the operation. The MU-2 installation had swivel and lifting mechanisms of the simplest design, a bracket for mounting a sight with a conventional artillery panorama and a large metal fuel tank mounted behind the cab. The cockpit windows were covered with armored folding shields. Opposite the seat of the commander of the combat vehicle on the front panel was mounted a small rectangular box with a turntable, reminiscent of a telephone dial, and a handle for turning the dial. This device was called the "fire control panel" (PUO). From it came a harness to a special battery and to each guide.

With one turn of the PUO handle, the electrical circuit was closed, the squib placed in front of the rocket chamber of the projectile was fired, the reactive charge was ignited and a shot was fired. The rate of fire was determined by the rate of rotation of the PUO handle. All 16 shells could be fired in 7-10 seconds. The time for transferring the MU-2 launcher from traveling to combat position was 2-3 minutes, the angle of vertical fire was in the range from 4 ° to 45 °, the angle of horizontal fire was 20 °.

The design of the launcher allowed it to move in a charged state at a fairly high speed (up to 40 km / h) and quickly deploy to a firing position, which contributed to sudden strikes against the enemy.

A significant factor that increased the tactical mobility of rocket artillery units armed with BM-13N launchers was the fact that a powerful American Studebaker US 6x6 truck, which was supplied to the USSR under Lend-Lease, was used as a base for the launcher. This car had an increased cross-country ability, provided by a powerful engine, three driven axles (6x6 wheel formula), a demultiplier, a winch for self-pulling, a high location of all parts and mechanisms that are sensitive to water. With the creation of this launcher, the development of the BM-13 serial combat vehicle was finally completed. In this form, she fought until the end of the war.

Tactical and technical characteristics of the MLRS BM-13 "Katyusha"
Rocket M-13
Caliber, mm 132
Projectile weight, kg 42.3
Warhead mass, kg 21.3
Mass of explosive, kg 4.9
Firing range - maximum, km 8.47
Volley production time, sec 7-10
Fighting vehicle MU-2
Base ZiS-6 (8x8)
Mass of BM, t 43.7
Maximum speed, km/h 40
Number of guides 16
Angle of vertical fire, degrees from +4 to +45
Angle of horizontal fire, degrees 20
Calculation, pers. 10-12
Year of adoption 1941

Testing and operation

The first battery of field rocket artillery, sent to the front on the night of July 1-2, 1941, under the command of Captain I.A. Flerov, was armed with seven installations manufactured by the Reactive Research Institute. With its first salvo at 15:15 on July 14, 1941, the battery wiped out the Orsha railway junction, along with the German trains with troops and military equipment on it.

The exceptional effectiveness of the actions of the battery of Captain I. A. Flerov and the seven more such batteries formed after it contributed to the rapid increase in the pace of production of jet weapons. Already in the autumn of 1941, 45 divisions of three-battery composition with four launchers in the battery operated on the fronts. For their armament in 1941, 593 BM-13 installations were manufactured. As military equipment arrived from industry, the formation of rocket artillery regiments began, consisting of three divisions armed with BM-13 launchers and an anti-aircraft division. The regiment had 1414 personnel, 36 BM-13 launchers and 12 anti-aircraft 37-mm guns. The volley of the regiment was 576 shells of 132mm caliber. At the same time, the manpower and military equipment of the enemy were destroyed on an area of ​​over 100 hectares. Officially, the regiments were called Guards Mortar Artillery Regiments of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command.

"Katyusha"
Guards jet mortar became one of the most terrible weapons of the Great Patriotic War
Now no one can say for sure under what circumstances the multiple launch rocket launcher received a female name, and even in a diminutive form - "Katyusha". One thing is known - at the front, far from all types of weapons received nicknames. Yes, and these names were often not at all flattering. For example, the Il-2 attack aircraft of early modifications, which saved the lives of more than one infantryman and was the most welcome "guest" in any battle, received the nickname "humpback" among the soldiers for the cockpit protruding above the fuselage. And the small I-16 fighter, which bore the brunt of the first air battles on its wings, was called the "donkey". True, there were also formidable nicknames - the heavy Su-152 self-propelled artillery mount, which was capable of knocking down a turret from the Tiger with one shot, was respectfully called the "St. one-story house, - "sledgehammer". In any case, the names were most often given harsh and strict. And then such unexpected tenderness, if not love ...

However, if you read the memoirs of veterans, especially those who, in their military profession, depended on the actions of mortars - infantrymen, tankers, signalmen, it becomes clear why the soldiers fell in love with these combat vehicles so much. In terms of its combat power, the Katyusha had no equal.

Behind us suddenly there was a rattle, a rumble, and fiery arrows flew through us to the height ... At the height everything was covered with fire, smoke and dust. In the midst of this chaos, fiery candles flared from individual explosions. We heard a terrible roar. When all this subsided and the command "Forward" was heard, we took the height, almost without meeting resistance, so cleanly "played the Katyushas" ... At the height, when we went up there, we saw that everything was plowed up. There were almost no traces of the trenches in which the Germans were located. There were many corpses of enemy soldiers. The wounded fascists were bandaged by our nurses and, together with a small number of survivors, were sent to the rear. The faces of the Germans were frightened. They still did not understand what happened to them, and did not recover from the Katyusha volley.

From the memoirs of a war veteran Vladimir Yakovlevich Ilyashenko (published on the site Iremember.ru)

Each projectile was approximately equal in power to a howitzer, but at the same time, the installation itself could almost simultaneously release, depending on the model and size of the ammunition, from eight to 32 missiles. Katyushas operated in divisions, regiments or brigades. At the same time, in each division, equipped, for example, with BM-13 installations, there were five such vehicles, each of which had 16 guides for launching 132-mm M-13 projectiles, each weighing 42 kilograms with a flight range of 8470 meters. Accordingly, only one division could fire 80 shells at the enemy. If the division was equipped with BM-8 installations with 32 82-mm shells, then one volley was already 160 missiles. What are 160 rockets that fall on a small village or a fortified height in a few seconds - imagine for yourself. But in many operations during the war, artillery preparation was carried out by regiments, and even brigades of "Katyusha", and this is more than a hundred vehicles, or more than three thousand shells in one volley. What is three thousand shells that plow trenches and fortifications in half a minute, probably no one can imagine ...

During offensives, the Soviet command tried to concentrate as much artillery as possible on the spearhead of the main attack. Super-massive artillery preparation, which preceded the breakthrough of the enemy front, was the trump card of the Red Army. Not a single army in that war could provide such fire. In 1945, during the offensive, the Soviet command pulled up to 230-260 cannon artillery guns per kilometer of the front. In addition to them, for every kilometer there were, on average, 15-20 rocket artillery combat vehicles, not counting stationary launchers - M-30 frames. Traditionally, Katyushas completed the artillery attack: rocket launchers fired a volley when the infantry was already on the attack. Often, after several volleys of Katyushas, ​​infantrymen entered a deserted settlement or enemy positions without encountering any resistance.

Of course, such a raid could not destroy all enemy soldiers - Katyusha rockets could operate in fragmentation or high-explosive mode, depending on how the fuse was set up. When it was set to fragmentation, the rocket exploded immediately after it reached the ground, in the case of a "high-explosive" installation, the fuse worked with a slight delay, allowing the projectile to go deep into the ground or other obstacle. However, in both cases, if the enemy soldiers were in well-fortified trenches, then the losses from shelling were small. Therefore, Katyushas were also often used at the beginning of an artillery raid in order to prevent enemy soldiers from hiding in the trenches. It was thanks to the suddenness and power of one volley that the use of rocket launchers brought success.

Already on the slope of the height, quite a bit before reaching the battalion, we unexpectedly came under a volley of our own "Katyusha" - a multi-barreled rocket mortar. It was terrible: large-caliber mines exploded around us for a minute, one after another. It didn’t take long for them to catch their breath and come to their senses. Now it seemed quite plausible newspaper reports about cases when German soldiers who had been under fire from Katyushas went crazy.

“If you involve an artillery barrel regiment, then the regiment commander will definitely say:“ I don’t have these data, I have to zero in the guns. "The shelter is usually given 15 - 20 seconds. During this time, the artillery barrel will fire one or two shells. And in 15-20 seconds I will fire 120 missiles in 15-20 seconds, which go all at once," says Alexander Filippovich Panuev, commander of the regiment of rocket launchers.

It is difficult to imagine what it means to be hit by Katyushas. According to those who survived such attacks (both Germans and Soviet soldiers), it was one of the most terrible impressions of the entire war. The sound that the rockets made during the flight is described differently by everyone - grinding, howling, roaring. Be that as it may, in combination with subsequent explosions, during which for several seconds on an area of ​​​​several hectares the earth mixed with pieces of buildings, equipment, people, flew into the air, this gave a strong psychological effect. When the soldiers took up enemy positions, they were not met with fire, not because everyone was killed - just the rocket fire drove the survivors crazy.

The psychological component of any weapon cannot be underestimated. The German Ju-87 bomber was equipped with a siren that howled during a dive, also suppressing the psyche of those who were on the ground at that moment. And during the attacks of the German tanks "Tiger", the calculations of anti-tank guns sometimes left their positions in fear of the steel monsters. The Katyushas also had the same psychological effect. For this terrible howl, by the way, they received the nickname "Stalin's organs" from the Germans.

The only ones who did not like the Katyusha in the Red Army were the gunners. The fact is that mobile installations of rocket launchers usually advanced to positions immediately before the salvo and just as quickly tried to leave. At the same time, for obvious reasons, the Germans tried to destroy the Katyushas in the first place. Therefore, immediately after a salvo of rocket-propelled mortars, their positions, as a rule, began to be intensively processed by German artillery and aviation. And given that the positions of cannon artillery and rocket launchers were often located not far from each other, the raid covered the artillerymen who remained where the rocketmen fired from.

SOVIET ROCKET MANAGERS LOAD THE KATYUSHA. Photo from the archives of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

"We choose firing positions. We are told: "In such and such a place there is a firing position, you will be waiting for soldiers or beacons." We take a firing position at night. At this time, the Katyusha division approaches. If I had time, I would immediately remove from there their position. "Katyushas" fired a volley, at the cars and left. And the Germans raised nine "Junkers" to bomb the division, and the division hit the road. They were on the battery. There was a commotion! An open place, they hid under gun carriages. who didn’t fit and left,” says former artilleryman Ivan Trofimovich Salnitsky.

According to the former Soviet missilemen who fought on the Katyushas, ​​most often the divisions operated within a few tens of kilometers of the front, appearing where their support was needed. First, officers entered the positions, who made the corresponding calculations. These calculations, by the way, were quite complex - they took into account not only the distance to the target, the speed and direction of the wind, but even the air temperature, which influenced the trajectory of the missiles. After all the calculations were made, the machines advanced to the position, fired several volleys (most often no more than five) and urgently left for the rear. The delay in this case was indeed like death - the Germans immediately covered the place from which they fired rocket-propelled mortars with artillery fire.

During the offensive, the tactics of using Katyushas, ​​finally worked out by 1943 and used everywhere until the end of the war, were different. At the very beginning of the offensive, when it was necessary to break into the enemy's defense in depth, artillery (cannon and rocket) formed the so-called "barrage". At the beginning of the shelling, all howitzers (often even heavy self-propelled guns) and rocket launchers "processed" the first line of defense. Then the fire was transferred to the fortifications of the second line, and the infantry occupied the trenches and dugouts of the first. After that, the fire was transferred inland - to the third line, while the infantrymen, meanwhile, occupied the second. At the same time, the farther the infantry went, the less cannon artillery could support it - towed guns could not accompany it throughout the offensive. This task was assigned to self-propelled guns and Katyushas. It was they who, along with the tanks, followed the infantry, supporting it with fire. According to those who participated in such offensives, after the "barrage" of the Katyushas, ​​the infantry walked along a scorched strip of land several kilometers wide, on which there were no traces of a carefully prepared defense.

BM-13 "KATYUSHA" ON THE BASE OF THE TRUCK "STUDEBAKER". Photo from Easyget.narod.ru

After the war, "Katyushas" began to be installed on pedestals - combat vehicles turned into monuments. Surely many have seen such monuments throughout the country. All of them are more or less similar to each other and almost do not correspond to those machines that fought in the Great Patriotic War. The fact is that these monuments almost always feature a rocket launcher based on the ZiS-6 car. Indeed, at the very beginning of the war, rocket launchers were installed on ZiSs, but as soon as American Studebaker trucks began to arrive in the USSR under Lend-Lease, they were turned into the most common base for Katyushas. ZiS, as well as Lend-Lease Chevrolets, were too weak to carry a heavy installation with missile guides off-road. It's not just a relatively low-power engine - the frames of these trucks could not withstand the weight of the installation. Actually, the Studebakers also tried not to overload with missiles - if it was necessary to go to a position from afar, then the missiles were loaded immediately before the salvo.

In addition to ZiSs, Chevrolets and Studebakers, the most common among the Katyushas, ​​the Red Army used T-70 tanks as a chassis for rocket launchers, but they were quickly abandoned - the tank engine and its transmission turned out to be too weak to so that the installation could continuously run along the front line. At first, the missilemen did without a chassis at all - the M-30 launch frames were transported in the back of trucks, unloading them directly to the positions.

From the history of Russian (Soviet) rocket science
KATYUSH RETAINTS:

M-8 - caliber 82 mm, weight eight kilograms, radius of destruction 10-12 meters, firing range 5500 meters

M-13 - caliber 132 mm, weight 42.5 kilograms, firing range 8470 meters, radius of destruction 25-30 meters

M-30 - caliber 300 millimeters, weight 95 kilograms, firing range 2800 meters (after completion - 4325 meters). These shells were launched from stationary M-30 machines. They were delivered in special boxes-frames, which were launchers. Sometimes the rocket did not come out of it and flew along with the frame

M-31-UK - shells similar to the M-30, but with improved accuracy. The nozzles, set slightly at an angle, forced the rocket to rotate along the longitudinal axis in flight, stabilizing it.

Russian and Soviet rocket science has a long and glorious history. For the first time, Peter the Great took missiles as a weapon seriously. At the beginning of the 18th century, as noted on the Pobeda.ru website, signal rockets, which were used during the Great Northern War, entered service with the Russian army with his light hand. At the same time, rocket "departments" appeared in various artillery schools. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Military Scientific Committee began to create combat missiles. For a long time, various military departments conducted tests and developments in the field of rocket science. In this case, the Russian designers Kartmazov and Zasyadko showed themselves brightly, who independently developed their missile systems.

This weapon was appreciated by the Russian military leaders. The Russian army adopted incendiary and high-explosive rockets of domestic production, as well as gantry, frame, tripod and carriage-type launchers.

In the 19th century, rockets were used in many military conflicts. In August 1827, the soldiers of the Caucasian Corps fired several thousand rockets at the enemy in the battle of Ushagan, near Alagez and during the assault on the Ardavil fortress. In the future, it was in the Caucasus that this weapon was used most of all. Thousands of rockets were brought to the Caucasus, and thousands were used during the assaults on fortresses and other operations. In addition, rocket men participated in the Russian-Turkish war as part of the artillery of the guards corps, actively supporting the infantry and cavalry in the battles near Shumla and during the siege of the Turkish fortresses of Varna and Silistra.

In the second half of the 19th century, rockets began to be used en masse. By this time, the number of combat missiles produced by the Petersburg Missile Institute numbered in the thousands. They were equipped with artillery units, the fleet, even supplied to the cavalry - a rocket machine was developed for the Cossack and cavalry units weighing only a few pounds, which were armed with individual cavalrymen instead of hand weapons or peaks. From 1851 to 1854 alone, 12,550 two-inch rockets were sent to the active army.

At the same time, their design, application tactics, the chemical composition of the filler, and launchers were improved. It was at that time that the shortcomings of the missiles were identified - insufficient accuracy and power - and tactics were developed that made it possible to neutralize the shortcomings. “Successful operation of a missile from a machine depends largely on completely calm and attentive observation of its entire flight; but as it is currently impossible to fulfill such a condition, when missiles are used against the enemy, it should predominantly operate with several missiles suddenly, with rapid fire or a volley. Thus, if not by the accuracy of the strike of each individual missile, then by the combined action of a larger number of them, it is possible to achieve the desired goal, ”wrote the Artillery Journal in 1863. Note that the tactics described in the military publication became the basis for the creation of Katyushas. Their shells at first also did not differ in particular accuracy, but this shortcoming was compensated by the number of missiles fired.

The development of rocket weapons received a new impetus in the 20th century. Russian scientists Tsiolkovsky, Kibalchich, Meshchersky, Zhukovsky, Nezhdanovsky, Zander and others developed the theoretical foundations of rocket technology and astronautics, created the scientific prerequisites for the theory of rocket engine design, predetermining the appearance of the Katyusha.

The development of rocket artillery began in the Soviet Union before the war, in the thirties. A whole group of design scientists under the leadership of Vladimir Andreevich Artemyev worked on them. The first experimental rocket launchers began to be tested from the end of 1938, and immediately in a mobile version - on the ZiS-6 chassis (stationary launchers appeared already during the war due to the lack of a sufficient number of vehicles). Before the war, in the summer of 1941, the first unit was formed - a division of rocket launchers.

VALLEY "KATYUSH". Photo from the archives of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

The first battle with the participation of these installations took place on July 14, 1941. This is one of the most famous episodes of the Great Patriotic War. On that day, several German echelons with fuel, soldiers and ammunition arrived at the Belarusian station Orsha - a more than tempting target. Captain Flerov's battery approached the station, and at 15:15 made only one salvo. Within seconds, the station was literally mixed into the ground. In the report, the captain then wrote: "The results are excellent. A continuous sea of ​​\u200b\u200bfire."

The fate of Captain Ivan Andreevich Flerov, like the fate of hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers in 1941, turned out to be tragic. For several months, he managed to act quite successfully, leaving from under enemy fire. Several times the battery found itself surrounded, but always went out to its own, retaining military equipment. She took her last fight on October 30 near Smolensk. Once surrounded, the fighters were forced to blow up the launchers (each car had a box of explosives and a fickford cord - under no circumstances should the launchers get to the enemy). Then, breaking out of the "cauldron", most of them, including Captain Flerov, died. Only 46 gunners of the battery reached the front line.

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However, by that time, new batteries of Guards mortars were already operating at the front, throwing down on the heads of the enemy that very "sea of ​​fire" that Flerov wrote about in the first report from near Orsha. Then this sea will accompany the Germans on their entire sad journey - from Moscow through Stalingrad, Kursk, Orel, Belgorod and so on, all the way to Berlin. Already in 1941, those who survived that terrible shelling at the Belarusian junction station probably thought hard about whether it was worth starting a war with a country that could turn several trains into ashes in a few seconds. However, they had no choice - they were ordinary soldiers and officers, and those who ordered them to go to Orsha learned about how Stalin's organs sing less than four years later - in May 1945, when this music sounded in sky

Materials provided by: S.V. Gurov (Tula)

The list of contractual work carried out by the Jet Research Institute (RNII) for the Armored Directorate (ABTU), the final settlement of which was to be carried out in the first quarter of 1936, mentions contract No. 251618s dated January 26, 1935 - a prototype rocket launcher on the BT tank -5 with 10 missiles. Thus, it can be considered proven that the idea of ​​creating a mechanized multiply charged installation in the third decade of the 20th century did not appear at the end of the 30s, as previously stated, but at least at the end of the first half of this period. Confirmation of the fact of the idea of ​​using cars for firing rockets in general was also found in the book "Rockets, Their Design and Application", authored by G.E. Langemak and V.P. Glushko, released in 1935. At the end of this book, in particular, the following is written: The main field of application of powder rockets is the armament of light combat vehicles, such as aircraft, small ships, vehicles of various types, and finally escort artillery.".

In 1938, employees of Research Institute No. 3, by order of the Artillery Directorate, carried out work on object No. 138 - a gun for firing 132 mm chemical projectiles. It was required to make non-rapid machines (such as a pipe). Under an agreement with the Artillery Directorate, it was necessary to design and manufacture an installation with a pedestal and a lifting and turning mechanism. One machine was made, which was later recognized as not meeting the requirements. At the same time, Research Institute No. 3 developed a mechanized salvo rocket launcher mounted on a modified chassis of a ZIS-5 truck with an ammunition load of 24 rounds. According to other data from the archives of the State Research Center of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Center of Keldysh” (former Research Institute No. 3), “2 mechanized installations were made on vehicles. They passed factory shooting tests at the Sofrinsky Artfield and partial field tests at the Ts.V.Kh.P. R.K.K.A. with positive results." On the basis of factory tests, it could be argued that the flight range of the RCS (depending on the specific gravity of the HE) at a firing angle of 40 degrees is 6000 - 7000m, Vd = (1/100)X and Wb = (1/70)X, the useful volume of the OV in the projectile - 6.5 l, metal consumption per 1 liter of RH - 3.4 kg / l, the dispersion radius of RH when the projectile breaks on the ground is 15-20 l, the maximum time required to fire the entire ammunition load of the vehicle in 24 shells is 3-4 sec.

The mechanized rocket launcher was designed to provide a chemical raid with rocket chemical projectiles /SOV and NOV/ 132 mm with a capacity of 7 liters. The installation made it possible to fire at the areas both with single shots and with a volley of 2 - 3 - 6 - 12 and 24 shots. "Installations, combined into batteries of 4 - 6 vehicles, are a very mobile and powerful means of chemical attack at a distance of up to 7 kilometers."

The installation and a 132 mm chemical rocket projectile for 7 liters of poisonous substance successfully passed field and state tests; its adoption was planned for service in 1939. The table of practical accuracy of rocket-chemical projectiles indicated the data of a mechanized vehicle installation for a surprise attack by firing chemical, high-explosive fragmentation, incendiary, lighting, and other rocket projectiles. I-th variant without aiming device - the number of shells of one salvo is 24, the total weight of the poisonous substance of the release of one salvo is 168 kg, 6 vehicle installations replace one hundred and twenty howitzers of 152 mm caliber, the vehicle reload speed is 5-10 minutes. 24 shots, the number of service personnel - 20-30 people. on 6 cars. In artillery systems - 3 Artillery regiments. II-version with control device. Data not specified.

From December 8, 1938 to February 4, 1939, unguided rockets of 132 mm caliber and automatic installations were tested. However, the installation was submitted for testing unfinished and did not withstand them: a large number of failures were found during the descent of rockets due to the imperfection of the corresponding units of the installation; the process of loading the launcher was inconvenient and time consuming; the swivel and lifting mechanisms did not provide easy and smooth operation, and the sights did not provide the required pointing accuracy. In addition, the ZIS-5 truck had limited cross-country ability. (See Tests of an automobile rocket launcher on the ZIS-5 chassis, designed by NII-3, drawing No. 199910 for launching 132 mm rockets. (Test time: from 12/8/38 to 02/4/39).

The letter of award for the successful testing in 1939 of a mechanized installation for a chemical attack (outgoing NII No. 3, number 733s dated May 25, 1939 from the director of NII No. 3 Slonimer addressed to the People's Commissar of Munitions comrade Sergeev I.P.) indicates the following participants of the work: Kostikov A.G. - Deputy technical director parts, installation initiator; Gvai I.I. - lead designer; Popov A. A. - design engineer; Isachenkov - assembly mechanic; Pobedonostsev Yu. - prof. advising object; Luzhin V. - engineer; Schwartz L.E. - engineer .

In 1938, the Institute designed the construction of a special chemical motorized team for salvo firing of 72 shots.

In a letter dated February 14, 1939, to Comrade Matveev (V.P.K. of the Defense Committee under the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.) signed by the Director of Research Institute No. 3 Slonimer and Deputy. Director of Research Institute No. 3, military engineer of the 1st rank Kostikov says: “For ground troops, the experience of a chemical mechanized installation should be used for:

• the use of rocket high-explosive fragmentation shells in order to create massive fire on the squares;
• use of incendiary, lighting and propaganda projectiles;
• development of a 203mm caliber chemical projectile and a mechanized installation providing twice the chemical power and firing range compared to the existing chemical one.

In 1939, the Scientific Research Institute No. 3 developed two versions of experimental installations on a modified chassis of a ZIS-6 truck for launching 24 and 16 unguided rockets of 132 mm caliber. Installation of the II sample differed from the installation of the I sample in the longitudinal arrangement of the guides.

The ammunition load of the mechanized installation /on the ZIS-6/ for launching chemical and high-explosive fragmentation shells of 132mm caliber /MU-132/ was 16 rocket shells. The firing system provided for the possibility of firing both single shells and a salvo of the entire ammunition load. The time required to produce a volley of 16 missiles is 3.5 - 6 seconds. The time required to reload ammunition is 2 minutes by a team of 3 people. The weight of the structure with a full ammunition load of 2350 kg was 80% of the calculated load of the vehicle.

Field tests of these installations were carried out from September 28 to November 9, 1939 on the territory of the Artillery Research Experimental Range (ANIOP, Leningrad) (see made at ANIOP). The results of field tests showed that the installation of the 1st sample, due to technical imperfections, cannot be admitted to military tests. The installation of the II sample, which also had a number of serious shortcomings, according to the conclusion of the commission members, could be admitted to military tests after significant design changes were made. Tests showed that when firing, the installation of the II sample sways and the knockdown of the elevation angle reaches 15 "30", which increases the dispersion of shells, when loading the lower row of guides, the projectile fuse can hit the truss structure. Since the end of 1939, the main attention has been focused on improving the layout and design of the II sample installation and eliminating the shortcomings identified during field tests. In this regard, it is necessary to note the characteristic directions in which the work was carried out. On the one hand, this is a further development of the installation of the II sample in order to eliminate its shortcomings, on the other hand, the creation of a more advanced installation, different from the installation of the II sample. In the tactical and technical assignment for the development of a more advanced installation (“modernized installation for the RS” in the terminology of the documents of those years), signed by Yu.P. Pobedonostsev on December 7, 1940, it was envisaged: to carry out constructive improvements in the lifting and turning device, to increase the angle of horizontal guidance, to simplify the aiming device. It was also envisaged to increase the length of the guides to 6000 mm instead of the existing 5000 mm, as well as the possibility of firing unguided rockets of 132 mm and 180 mm caliber. At a meeting at the technical department of the People's Commissariat of Ammunition, it was decided to increase the length of the guides even up to 7000 mm. The deadline for the delivery of the drawings was scheduled for October 1941. Nevertheless, in order to conduct various kinds of tests in the workshops of Research Institute No. 3 in 1940 - 1941, several (in addition to the existing) modernized installations for the RS were manufactured. The total number is indicated differently in different sources: in some - six, in others - seven. In the data of the archive of Research Institute No. 3, as of January 10, 1941, there are data on 7 pieces. (from the document on the readiness of object 224 (topic 24 of the superplan, an experimental series of automatic installations for firing RS-132 mm (in the amount of seven pieces. See UANA GAU letter No. 668059) Based on the available documents, the source states that there were eight installations, but at different times. On February 28, 1941 there were six of them.

The thematic plan of research and development work for 1940 of the Research Institute No. 3 NKB provided for the transfer to the customer - the AU of the Red Army - six automatic installations for the RS-132mm. The report on the implementation of pilot orders in production for the month of November 1940 at Research Institute No. 3 of the National Design Bureau indicates that with a delivery batch to the customer of six installations, by November 1940, the Quality Control Department accepted 5 units, and the military representative - 4 units.

In December 1939, Research Institute No. 3 was given the task of developing a powerful rocket projectile and a rocket launcher in a short period of time to carry out tasks to destroy long-term enemy defenses on the Mannerheim Line. The result of the work of the Institute team was a feathered rocket projectile with a range of 2-3 km with a powerful high-explosive warhead with a ton of explosive and a four-guide installation on a T-34 tank or on a sleigh towed by tractors or tanks. In January 1940, the installation and rockets were sent to the combat area, but soon it was decided to conduct field tests before using them in combat. The installation with shells was sent to the Leningrad scientific and test artillery range. Soon the war with Finland ended. The need for powerful high-explosive shells disappeared. Further installation and projectile work was discontinued.

Department 2n Research Institute No. 3 in 1940 was asked to perform work on the following objects:

• Object 213 - An electrified installation on a VMS for firing lighting and signaling. R.S. calibers 140-165mm. (Note: for the first time, an electric drive for a rocket artillery combat vehicle was used in the design of the BM-21 combat vehicle of the M-21 Field Rocket System).
• Object 214 - Installation on a 2-axle trailer with 16 guides, length l = 6mt. for R.S. calibers 140-165mm. (alteration and adaptation of object 204)
• Object 215 - Electrified installation on the ZIS-6 with a portable supply of R.S. and with a wide range of aiming angles.
• Object 216 - Charging box for RS on a trailer
• Object 217 - Installation on a 2-axle trailer for firing long-range missiles
• Object 218 - Anti-aircraft moving installation for 12 pcs. R.S. caliber 140 mm with electric drive
• Object 219 - Fixed anti-aircraft installation for 50-80 R.S. caliber 140 mm.
• Object 220 - Command installation on a ZIS-6 vehicle with an electric current generator, aiming and firing control panel
• Object 221 - Universal installation on a 2-axle trailer for possible polygon firing of RS calibers from 82 to 165 mm.
• Object 222 - Mechanized installation for escorting tanks
• Object 223 - Introduction to the industry of mass production of mechanized installations.

In a letter, acting Director of Research Institute No. 3, military engineer 1st rank Kostikov A.G. on the possibility of representation in K.V.Sh. under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR data for the award of the Comrade Stalin Prize, based on the results of work in the period from 1935 to 1940, the following participants in the work are indicated:

• rocket auto-installation for a sudden, powerful artillery and chemical attack on the enemy with the help of rocket shells - Authors according to the application certificate GBPRI No. 3338 9.II.40g (author's certificate No. 3338 dated February 19, 1940) Kostikov Andrey Grigorievich, Gvai Ivan Isidorovich, Aborenkov Vasily Vasilevich.
• tactical and technical justification of the scheme and design of the auto-installation - designers: Pavlenko Alexey Petrovich and Galkovsky Vladimir Nikolaevich.
• testing rocket high-explosive fragmentation chemical shells of caliber 132 mm. - Shvarts Leonid Emilievich, Artemiev Vladimir Andreevich, Shitov Dmitry Alexandrovich

The basis for submitting Comrade Stalin for the Prize was also the Decision of the Technical Council of the Research Institute No. 3 of the National Design Bureau dated December 26, 1940. ,.

On April 25, 1941, the tactical and technical requirements for the modernization of a mechanized installation for firing rockets were approved.

On June 21, 1941, the installation was demonstrated to the leaders of the CPSU (6) and the Soviet government, and on the same day, just a few hours before the start of World War II, a decision was made to urgently expand the production of M-13 rockets and M-13 installations (see Fig. scheme 1, scheme 2). The production of M-13 installations was organized at the Voronezh plant named after. Comintern and at the Moscow plant "Compressor". One of the main enterprises for the production of rockets was the Moscow plant. Vladimir Ilyich.

During the war, the production of component installations and shells and the transition from serial production to mass production required the creation of a broad structure of cooperation on the territory of the country (Moscow, Leningrad, Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), Nizhny Tagil, Krasnoyarsk, Kolpino, Murom, Kolomna and, possibly, , other). It required the organization of a separate military acceptance of guards mortar units. For more information about the production of shells and their elements during the war years, see our website (further on the links below).

According to various sources, in late July - early August, the formation of Guards mortar units began (see:). In the first months of the war, the Germans already had data on new Soviet weapons (see:).

The date of adoption of the installation and shells M-13 is not documented. The author of this material established only data on the draft Resolution of the Defense Committee under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of February 1940 (See electronic versions of documents:,,). In M. Pervov's book "Stories about Russian rockets" Book One. page 257 states that "August 30, 1941, by the Decree of the State Defense Committee, the BM-13 was adopted by the Red Army." I, Gurov S.V., got acquainted with the electronic images of the GKO Decrees dated August 30, 1941 in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI, Moscow) and did not find in any of them any mention of data on the adoption of the M-13 installation into armament.

In September-October 1941, on the instructions of the Main Directorate of Armament of the Guards Mortar Units, the M-13 installation was developed on the chassis of the STZ-5 NATI tractor modified for mounting. The development was entrusted to the Voronezh plant. Comintern and SKB at the Moscow plant "Compressor". SKB performed the development more efficiently, and prototypes were manufactured and tested in a short time. As a result, the installation was put into service and put into mass production.

In the December days of 1941, the Special Design Bureau, on the instructions of the Main Armored Directorate of the Red Army, developed, in particular, a 16-charger installation on an armored railway platform for the defense of the city of Moscow. The installation was a throwing installation of the M-13 serial installation on a modified chassis of a ZIS-6 truck with a modified base. (for more details on other works of this period and the period of the war as a whole, see: and).

At a technical meeting in the SKB on April 21, 1942, it was decided to develop a normalized installation, known as the M-13N (after the war BM-13N). The aim of the development was to create the most advanced installation, the design of which would take into account all the changes made earlier to various modifications of the M-13 installation and the creation of such a throwing installation that could be manufactured and assembled on a stand and assembled and assembled on a chassis cars of any brand without major revision of technical documentation, as was the case before. The goal was achieved by dismembering the M-13 installation into separate units. Each node was considered as an independent product with the assignment of an index to it, after which it could be used as a borrowed product in any installation.

During the development of components and parts for the normalized BM-13N combat installation, the following were obtained:

increase in the area of ​​fire by 20%

reduction of efforts on the handles of guidance mechanisms by one and a half to two times;

doubling the vertical aiming speed;

increasing the survivability of the combat installation due to the reservation of the rear wall of the cabin; gas tank and gas pipeline;

increasing the stability of the installation in the stowed position by introducing a support bracket to disperse the load on the side members of the vehicle;

increase in the operational reliability of the unit (simplification of the support beam, rear axle, etc.;

a significant reduction in the amount of welding work, machining, the exclusion of bending truss rods;

reduction in the weight of the installation by 250 kg, despite the introduction of armor on the rear wall of the cab and gas tank;

reduction of production time for the manufacture of the installation by assembling the artillery part separately from the chassis of the vehicle and mounting the installation on the chassis of the vehicle using mounting clamps, which made it possible to eliminate drilling holes in the spars;

reduction by several times of the idle time of the chassis of vehicles that arrived at the plant for installation of the installation;

reduction in the number of fastener sizes from 206 to 96, as well as the number of parts: in the swing frame - from 56 to 29, in the truss from 43 to 29, in the support frame - from 15 to 4, etc. The use of normalized components and products in the design of the installation made it possible to apply a high-performance flow method for the assembly and installation of the installation.

The thrower was mounted on a modified truck chassis of the Studebaker series (see photo) with a 6x6 wheel formula, which were supplied under Lend-Lease. The normalized M-13N installation was adopted by the Red Army in 1943. The installation became the main model used until the end of the Great Patriotic War. Other types of modified truck chassis of foreign brands were also used.

At the end of 1942, V.V. Aborenkov suggested adding two additional pins to the M-13 projectile in order to launch it from dual guides. For this purpose, a prototype was made, which was a serial M-13 installation, in which the swinging part (guides and truss) was replaced. The guide consisted of two steel strips placed on edge, in each of them a groove was cut for the drive pin. Each pair of strips was fastened opposite each other with grooves in a vertical plane. The field tests carried out did not give the expected improvement in the accuracy of fire and the work was stopped.

At the beginning of 1943, SKB specialists carried out work on the creation of installations with a normalized throwing installation of the M-13 installation on the modified chassis of Chevrolet and ZIS-6 trucks. During January - May 1943, a prototype was made on a modified Chevrolet truck chassis and field tests were carried out. The installations were adopted by the Red Army. However, due to the presence of a sufficient number of chassis of these brands, they did not go into mass production.

In 1944, SKB specialists developed the M-13 installation on the armored chassis of the ZIS-6 car modified for the installation of a throwing installation for launching M-13 shells. For this purpose, the normalized guides of the “beam” type of the M-13N installation were shortened to 2.5 meters and assembled into a package on two spars. The truss was made shortened from pipes in the form of a pyramidal frame, turned upside down, served mainly as a support for attaching the screw of the lifting mechanism. The elevation angle of the guide package was changed from the cab using handwheels and a cardan shaft for the vertical guidance mechanism. A prototype was made. However, due to the weight of the armor, the front axle and springs of the ZIS-6 vehicle were overloaded, as a result of which further installation work was stopped.

In late 1943 - early 1944, SKB specialists and developers of rockets were asked to improve the accuracy of fire of 132 mm caliber shells. To give rotational motion, the designers introduced tangential holes into the design of the projectile along the diameter of the head working belt. The same solution was used in the design of the regular projectile, and was proposed for the projectile. As a result, the accuracy indicator increased, but there was a decrease in the indicator in terms of flight range. Compared to the standard M-13 projectile, whose flight range was 8470 m, the range of the new projectile, which received the M-13UK index, was 7900 m. Despite this, the projectile was adopted by the Red Army.

In the same period, specialists from NII-1 (Lead Designer Bessonov V.G.) developed and then tested the M-13DD projectile. The projectile had the best accuracy in terms of accuracy, but they could not be fired from standard M-13 installations, since the projectile had a rotational motion and, when launched from ordinary standard guides, destroyed them, tearing off the linings from them. To a lesser extent, this also took place during the launch of M-13UK projectiles. The M-13DD projectile was adopted by the Red Army at the end of the war. Mass production of the projectile was not organized.

At the same time, SKB specialists began exploratory design studies and experimental work to improve the accuracy of firing rockets and by developing guides. It was based on a new principle of launching rockets and ensuring that they were strong enough to fire the M-13DD and M-20 projectiles. Since giving rotation to feathered rocket unguided projectiles in the initial segment of their flight trajectory improved accuracy, the idea was born to give rotation to projectiles on guides without drilling tangential holes in the projectiles, which consume part of the engine power to rotate them and thereby reduce their flight range. This idea led to the creation of spiral guides. The design of the spiral guide has taken the form of a trunk formed by four spiral bars, of which three are smooth steel pipes, and the fourth, the leading one, is made of a steel square with selected grooves forming an H-shaped section profile. The bars were welded to the legs of the annular clips. In the breech there was a lock to hold the projectile in the guide and electrical contacts. A special equipment was created for bending guide rods in a spiral, having different angles of twisting along their length and welding guide shafts. Initially, the installation had 12 guides rigidly connected into four cassettes (three guides per cassette). Prototypes of a 12-charger were developed and manufactured. However, sea trials showed that the chassis of the car was overloaded, and it was decided to remove two guides from the upper cassettes from the installation. The launcher was mounted on a modified chassis of a Studebeker off-road truck. It consisted of a set of rails, a truss, a swing frame, a subframe, a sight, vertical and horizontal guidance mechanisms, and electrical equipment. In addition to cassettes with guides and farms, all other nodes were unified with the corresponding nodes of the normalized M-13N combat installation. With the help of the M-13-SN installation, it was possible to launch M-13, M-13UK, M-20 and M-13DD shells of 132 mm caliber. Significantly better results were obtained in terms of accuracy of fire: with M-13 shells - 3.2 times, M-13UK - 1.1 times, M-20 - 3.3 times, M-13DD - 1.47 times) . With the improvement in the accuracy of firing with M-13 rocket projectiles, the flight range did not decrease, as was the case when firing M-13UK shells from M-13 installations that had beam-type guides. There was no need to manufacture M-13UK shells, complicated by drilling in the engine case. The M-13-CH installation was simpler, less laborious and cheaper to manufacture. A number of labor-intensive machine work has disappeared: gouging long guides, drilling a large number of rivet holes, riveting linings to guides, turning, calibrating, manufacturing and threading spars and nuts for them, complex machining of locks and lock boxes, etc. Prototypes were manufactured at the Moscow plant "Kompressor" (No. 733) and were subjected to ground and sea trials, which ended with good results. After the end of the war, the M-13-SN installation in 1945 passed military tests with good results. Due to the fact that the modernization of the M-13 type shells was coming, the installation was not put into service. After the 1946 series, on the basis of the order of the NKOM No. 27 dated 10/24/1946, the installation was discontinued. However, in 1950 a Brief Guide to the BM-13-SN Combat Vehicle was issued.

After the end of the Great Patriotic War, one of the directions for the development of rocket artillery was the use of throwing installations developed during the war for mounting on modified types of domestic-made chassis. Several options were created based on the installation of the M-13N on the modified truck chassis ZIS-151 (see photo), ZIL-151 (see photo), ZIL-157 (see photo), ZIL-131 (see photo) .

Installations of the M-13 type were exported to different countries after the war. One of them was China (see photo from the military parade on the occasion of the National Day of 1956, held in Beijing (Beijing) .

In 1959, while working on a projectile for the future Field Rocket System, the developers were interested in the issue of technical documentation for the production of the ROFS M-13. Here is what was written in a letter to the Deputy Director for Research at NII-147 (now FSUE "GNPP Splav" (Tula), signed by Toporov, Chief Engineer of Plant No. 63 of the SSNH (State Plant No. 63 of the Sverdlovsk Economic Council, 22.VII.1959 No. 1959с): "To your request for No. 3265 dated 3 / UII-59 on sending technical documentation for the production of ROFS M-13, I inform you that at present the plant does not produce this product, but the classification has been removed from the technical documentation.

The plant has outdated tracing papers of the technological process of machining the product. The plant has no other documentation.

Due to the workload of the photocopier, the album of technical processes will be blue-printed and sent to you no earlier than in a month.

Compound

Main cast:

• Installations M-13 (combat vehicles M-13, BM-13) (see. gallery images M-13).
• Main rockets M-13, M-13UK, M-13UK-1.
• Ammunition transport vehicles (transport vehicles).

The M-13 projectile (see diagram) consisted of two main parts: the warhead and the reactive part (jet powder engine). The warhead consisted of a body with a fuse point, the bottom of the warhead and an explosive charge with an additional detonator. The jet powder engine of the projectile consisted of a chamber, a cover-nozzle that closes to seal the powder charge with two cardboard plates, a grate, a powder charge, an igniter and a stabilizer. On the outer part of both ends of the chamber there were two centering thickenings with guide pins screwed into them. The guide pins held the projectile on the guide of the combat vehicle until the shot and directed its movement along the guide. A powder charge of nitroglycerin gunpowder was placed in the chamber, consisting of seven identical cylindrical single-channel checkers. In the nozzle part of the chamber, the checkers rested on the grate. To ignite the powder charge, an igniter made of smoky gunpowder is inserted into the upper part of the chamber. Gunpowder was placed in a special case. Stabilization of the M-13 projectile in flight was carried out using the tail unit.

The flight range of the M-13 projectile reached 8470 m, but at the same time there was a very significant dispersion. In 1943, a modernized version of the rocket was developed, which received the designation M-13-UK (improved accuracy). To increase the accuracy of fire of the M-13-UK projectile, 12 tangentially located holes are made in the front centering thickening of the rocket part (see photo 1, photo 2), through which, during the operation of the rocket engine, part of the powder gases escape, causing the projectile to rotate. Although the range of the projectile was somewhat reduced (to 7.9 km), the improvement in accuracy led to a decrease in the dispersion area and to an increase in the density of fire by 3 times compared to the M-13 projectiles. In addition, the diameter of the critical section of the nozzle of the M-13-UK projectile is somewhat smaller than that of the M-13 projectile. The M-13-UK projectile was adopted by the Red Army in April 1944. The M-13UK-1 projectile with improved accuracy was equipped with flat stabilizers made of steel sheet.

Tactical and technical characteristics

According to the English catalog Jane "s Armor and Artillery 1995-1996, section Egypt, in the mid-90s of the XX century, due to the impossibility of obtaining, in particular, shells for combat vehicles of the M-13 type, the Arab Organization for Industrialization (Arab Organization for Industrialisation) was engaged in the production of 132 mm caliber rockets.Analysis of the data below allows us to conclude that we are talking about a projectile of the M-13UK type.

The Arab Organization for Industrialization included Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with most of the production facilities located in Egypt and with the main funding from the Gulf countries. Following the Egyptian-Israeli agreement in mid-1979, the other three members of the Persian Gulf countries withdrew their funds intended for the Arab Organization for Industrialization from circulation, and at that time (data from Jane's Armor and Artillery 1982-1983 catalog) Egypt received another help with projects.

Testing and operation

The first battery of field rocket artillery, sent to the front on the night of July 1-2, 1941 under the command of Captain I.A. Flerov, was armed with seven installations made in the workshops of Research Institute No. The battery wiped out the Orsha railway junction from the face of the earth, along with the German echelons with troops and military equipment on it.

The exceptional effectiveness of the actions of the battery of Captain I. A. Flerov and the seven more such batteries formed after it contributed to the rapid increase in the pace of production of jet weapons. Already in the autumn of 1941, 45 divisions of three-battery composition with four launchers in the battery operated on the fronts. For their armament in 1941, 593 M-13 installations were manufactured. As military equipment arrived from industry, the formation of rocket artillery regiments began, consisting of three divisions armed with M-13 launchers and an anti-aircraft division. The regiment had 1414 personnel, 36 M-13 launchers and 12 anti-aircraft 37-mm guns. The volley of the regiment was 576 shells of 132mm caliber. At the same time, the manpower and military equipment of the enemy were destroyed on an area of ​​over 100 hectares. Officially, the regiments were called Guards Mortar Artillery Regiments of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command. Unofficially, rocket artillery installations were called "Katyusha". According to the memoirs of Evgeny Mikhailovich Martynov (Tula), who was a child during the war years, in Tula at first they were called infernal machines. From ourselves, we note that multi-charged machines were also called infernal machines in the 19th century.

The forerunners of modern rocket launchers can be considered guns from China. The shells could cover a distance of 1.6 km, releasing a huge number of arrows at the target. In the West, such devices appeared only after 400 years.

The history of the creation of rocket weapons

The first rockets appeared solely due to the advent of gunpowder, which was invented in China. Alchemists discovered this element by accident when they were making an elixir for eternal life. In the 11th century, powder bombs were first used, which were directed to the target from catapults. It was the first weapon whose mechanism resembles rocket launchers.

The rockets, created in China in 1400, were as similar as possible to modern guns. The range of their flight was more than 1.5 km. They were two rockets equipped with engines. Before falling, a huge number of arrows flew out of them. After China, such weapons appeared in India, then came to England.

General Congreve in 1799, based on them, develops a new type of gunpowder shells. They were immediately taken into service in the British army. Then huge cannons appeared that fired rockets at a distance of 1.6 km.

Even earlier, in 1516, the grassroots Zaporozhye Cossacks near Belgorod, when destroying the Tatar horde of the Crimean Khan Melik-Girey, used even more innovative rocket launchers. Thanks to the new weapons, they were able to defeat the Tatar army, which was much more numerous than the Cossacks. Unfortunately, the Cossacks took the secret of their development with them, dying in subsequent battles.

Achievements of A. Zasiadko

A big breakthrough in the creation of launchers was made by Alexander Dmitrievich Zasyadko. It was he who invented and successfully brought to life the first RCDs - multiple rocket launchers. From one such design, at least 6 missiles could be fired almost simultaneously. The units were light in weight, which made it possible to carry them to any convenient place. Zasyadko's designs were highly appreciated by Grand Duke Konstantin, the tsar's brother. In his report to Alexander I, he petitions for Colonel Zasyadko to be promoted to the rank of major general.

Development of rocket launchers in the XIX-XX centuries.

In the 19th century, N.I. Tikhomirov and V.A. Artemiev. The first launch of such a rocket was made in the USSR in 1928. The shells could cover a distance of 5-6 km.

Thanks to the contribution of the Russian professor K.E. Tsiolkovsky, scientists from the RNII I.I. Gvaya, V.N. Galkovsky, A.P. Pavlenko and A.S. Popov in 1938-1941, a multi-discharge rocket launcher RS-M13 and the BM-13 installation appeared. At the same time, Russian scientists are creating rockets. These rockets - "eres" - will become the main part of the Katyusha, which does not yet exist. Over its creation will work for a few more years.

Installation "Katyusha"

As it turned out, five days before the German attack on the USSR, the group of L.E. Schwartz demonstrated in the Moscow region a new weapon called "Katyusha". The rocket launcher at that time was called BM-13. The tests were carried out on June 17, 1941 at the Sofrinsky training ground with the participation of the Chief of the General Staff G.K. Zhukov, people's commissars of defense, ammunition and weapons, and other representatives of the Red Army. On July 1, this military equipment left Moscow for the front. And two weeks later, "Katyusha" visited the first baptism of fire. Hitler was shocked to learn about the effectiveness of this rocket launcher.

The Germans were afraid of this weapon and tried in every possible way to capture or destroy it. Attempts by designers to recreate the same gun in Germany did not bring success. The shells did not pick up speed, had a chaotic flight path and did not hit the target. Soviet-made gunpowder was clearly of a different quality; decades were spent on its development. German counterparts could not replace it, which led to the unstable operation of ammunition.

The creation of this powerful weapon opened a new page in the history of the development of artillery weapons. The formidable "Katyusha" began to bear the honorary title "instrument of victory."

Development features

The BM-13 rocket launchers consist of a six-wheeled four-wheel drive truck and a special design. Behind the cockpit was a system for launching missiles on a platform installed in the same place. A special lift using hydraulics raised the front of the unit at an angle of 45 degrees. Initially, there was no provision for moving the platform to the right or left. Therefore, in order to aim at the target, it was necessary to deploy the entire truck completely. 16 rockets fired from the installation flew along a free trajectory to the location of the enemy. The crew made adjustments already during firing. Until now, more modern modifications of these weapons are used by the army of some countries.

The BM-13 was replaced by the jet-powered BM-14 in the 1950s.

Missile launchers "Grad"

The next modification of the system under consideration was Grad. The rocket launcher was created for the same purposes as previous similar samples. Only tasks for developers have become more complicated. The firing range was to be at least 20 km.

The development of new shells was taken up by NII 147, which had not previously created such a weapon. In 1958, under the leadership of A.N. Ganichev, with the support of the State Committee for Defense Technology, work began on the development of a rocket for a new modification of the installation. To create used the technology of manufacturing artillery shells. The hulls were created using the hot drawing method. The stabilization of the projectile occurred due to the tail and rotation.

After numerous experiments in Grad rockets, for the first time they used plumage of four curved blades, which opened at launch. Thus, A.N. Ganichev was able to ensure that the rocket fit perfectly into the tubular guide, and during the flight its stabilization system turned out to be ideal for a firing range of 20 km. The main creators were NII-147, NII-6, GSKB-47, SKB-203.

The tests were carried out at the Rzhevka training ground near Leningrad on March 1, 1962. And a year later, on March 28, 1963, the Grad was adopted by the country. The rocket launcher was launched into mass production on January 29, 1964.

The composition of the "Grad"

SZO BM 21 includes the following elements:

Rocket launcher, which is mounted on the stern of the chassis of the car "Ural-375D";

Fire control system and 9T254 transport-loading vehicle based on ZIL-131;

40 three-meter guides in the form of pipes mounted on a base that rotates in a horizontal plane and points vertically.

Guidance is carried out manually or by means of an electric drive. The unit is charged manually. The car can move charged. Shooting is carried out in one gulp or single shots. With a volley of 40 shells, manpower is affected in an area of ​​​​1046 square meters. m.

Shells for "Grad"

For firing, you can use various types of rockets. They differ in firing range, mass, target. They are used to destroy manpower, armored vehicles, mortar batteries, airplanes and helicopters at airfields, mining, installing smoke screens, creating radio interference, and poisoning with a chemical.

There are a huge number of modifications to the Grad system. All of them are in service in various countries of the world.

Long-range MLRS "Hurricane"

Simultaneously with the development of the Grad, the Soviet Union was engaged in the creation of a long-range jet. All of them were rated positively, but were not powerful enough and had their drawbacks.

At the end of 1968, the development of a long-range 220-mm SZO began. Initially, it was called "Grad-3". In full, the new system was taken into development after the decision of the ministries of defense industry of the USSR of March 31, 1969. At the Perm gun factory No. 172 in February 1972, a prototype of the Uragan MLRS was manufactured. The rocket launcher was put into service on March 18, 1975. After 15 years, the Soviet Union housed 10 rocket artillery regiments of the Uragan MLRS and one rocket artillery brigade.

In 2001, so many Uragan systems were in service in the countries of the former USSR:

Russia - 800;

Kazakhstan - 50;

Moldova - 15;

Tajikistan - 12;

Turkmenistan - 54;

Uzbekistan - 48;

Ukraine - 139.

The shells for the Hurricanes are very similar to the ammunition for the Grads. The same components are 9M27 rocket parts and 9X164 powder charges. To reduce the range, brake rings are also put on them. Their length is 4832-5178 mm, and their weight is 271-280 kg. A funnel in medium-density soil has a diameter of 8 meters and a depth of 3 meters. The firing range is 10-35 km. Shrapnel from shells at a distance of 10 m can penetrate a 6 mm steel barrier.

What is the purpose of the Hurricane systems? The rocket launcher is designed to destroy manpower, armored vehicles, artillery units, tactical missiles, anti-aircraft systems, helicopters in parking lots, communication centers, military-industrial facilities.

The most accurate MLRS "Smerch"

The uniqueness of the system lies in the combination of indicators such as power, range and accuracy. The world's first MLRS with guided rotating projectiles is the Smerch rocket launcher, which still has no analogues in the world. Its missiles are capable of reaching a target that is 70 km from the gun itself. The new MLRS was put into service in the USSR on November 19, 1987.

In 2001, Uragan systems were located in the following countries (former USSR):

Russia - 300 cars;

Belarus - 48 cars;

Ukraine - 94 cars.

The projectile has a length of 7600 mm. Its weight is 800 kg. All varieties have a huge destructive and damaging effect. Losses from batteries "Hurricane" and "Smerch" are equated to the actions of tactical nuclear weapons. At the same time, the world does not consider their use as so dangerous. They equate to weapons such as guns or tanks.

Reliable and powerful Topol

In 1975, the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering began to develop a mobile system capable of launching a rocket from various places. Such a complex was the Topol rocket launcher. It was the answer of the Soviet Union to the appearance of controlled American intercontinental vehicles (they were adopted by the USA in 1959).

The first tests took place on December 23, 1983. During a series of launches, the rocket proved to be a reliable and powerful weapon.

In 1999, 360 Topol complexes were located in ten position areas.

Every year, Russia launches one Topol rocket. Since the creation of the complex, about 50 tests have been carried out. All of them passed without any problems. This indicates the highest reliability of the equipment.

To destroy small targets in the Soviet Union, the Tochka-U divisional rocket launcher was developed. Work on the creation of this weapon began on March 4, 1968, according to the Decree of the Council of Ministers. The contractor was Kolomna Design Bureau. Chief designer - S.P. Invincible. The TsNII AG was responsible for the missile control system. The launcher was produced in Volgograd.

What is SAM

A set of various combat and technical means that are linked together to combat enemy attack means from air and space is called an anti-aircraft missile system (SAM).

They are distinguished by the place of military operations, by mobility, by the method of movement and guidance, by range. These include the Buk missile launcher, as well as the Igla, Osa and others. What is the difference between this type of construction? The anti-aircraft missile launcher includes means for reconnaissance and transportation, automatic tracking of an air target, a launcher for anti-aircraft guided missiles, devices for controlling and tracking a missile, and means for controlling equipment.