When in 1983 the United States adopted the MLRS MLRS, which in its characteristics was comparable to the Soviet Hurricane system used back in 1975, NATO countries decided that they had caught up with the Soviet Union in multiple launch rocket systems. However, a surprise awaited them. Four years later, in 1987, the Smerch installation entered service with the artillery regiments of the Soviet Army.
History of creation
In the task of developing a new reactive system, in addition to the traditional tasks of destroying equipment, weapons, manpower, airfields and headquarters, it also set the extermination of tactical missiles. To do this, it was necessary to increase the accuracy and firing range. The design bureau of the Tula State Scientific and Production Enterprise "Alloy" took over the development of such a system, on which many of Russia's missile launchers were designed. Alexander Nikitovich Ganichev became the general designer, and after his death, Gennady Alekseevich Denezhkin.
Design and Features
At the very beginning of the work, designers faced one significant problem. All
rocket launchers in Russia and the world, starting with the legendary Katyusha, lost their main dignity when the firing range was increased - there was no salvo destruction of the target, a large dispersion of missiles affected. To eliminate this drawback, for the first time in the world, a correction of the flight of the mentioned ammunition was applied in pitch and yaw angles. As a result of using a unique control system, accuracy of two was ensured, and accuracy was three times higher than that of similar foreign multiple launch rocket launchers. In addition, the shell used a more advanced solid propellant marching engine. All these innovations allow us to consider that the Tornado installation is a weapon of a fundamentally new level, which has no analogues in range and the striking ability of fire, the destruction of armored vehicles and manpower of a potential enemy.
Ammunition
RZSO "Smerch" - installation of
volley fire. It has 12 launch guide tubes, respectively, 12 rockets of various types are included in the ammunition load. Let's consider some of them. 9M55K projectile has a warhead with fragmentation elements. Designed to destroy unarmored vehicles and manpower in open areas. The 9M55K1 projectile contains self-aiming combat elements. Designed to destroy armored vehicles and tanks from above. 9M55K3 and K4 rockets are used for anti-personnel and anti-tank mining, respectively. The 9M55K5 warhead is equipped with 646 warheads with a cumulative fragmentation effect. They penetrate 120 mm of
homogeneous armor and are most effective against motorized infantry moving in infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers. 9M55F missile contains detachable high-explosive fragmentation warhead. Destroys manpower, communication centers, headquarters, military-industrial facilities. The most destructive shell for the "Smerch" is 9M55S, equipped with a thermobaric warhead (the so-called ammunition of a volume explosion, or a
vacuum bomb). The materials of state tests, where the effectiveness of its application was determined, are classified.
Currently, based on the above ammunition, new missiles have been developed with an increased firing range of 90 kilometers. It should be noted another non-standard warhead. We are talking about a missile with an unmanned aerial vehicle, which is designed to observe the enemy and conduct reconnaissance for half an hour, and also has a high degree of invulnerability due to its small size.
The composition of the complex MLRS
The Smerch volley launcher consists of a 9A52 combat vehicle created on the basis of a four-axle high-pass chassis MAZ-543. A package of 12 tubular guides is mounted on it, there are radio communications, and the fire control system equipment is also located. To load the launcher, a transport-loading machine with the index 9T234 is also used, also on the MAZ-543 chassis. The export version of the MLRS provides, at the request of the customer, the replacement of the Tatra-816 car. This is due to the fact that in some countries, such as India, there is a well-developed service of this company. To ensure effective combat use of the installation, the following are used: AUO complex (Automatic fire control) 97291 "Slap-1" on the KamAZ-43114 chassis ("Tatra-T815"); vehicle for
topographic surveying (index 1T12-2M, GAZ-66); meteorological direction finding complex 1B44 "Smile" ("Ural-43203").
Countries armed with RZSO
By the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Smerch installation was in service with three rocket artillery regiments. After 1991, the 336th regiment remained in Belarus, 337 in Russia, and 371 in Ukraine. In addition to the above states, the facilities are in service in Azerbaijan, Algeria, Venezuela, Georgia, India, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Peru and Turkmenistan. Part of the military vehicles in these countries were delivered directly by Rosoboronexport, and some were sold from Soviet reserves by Ukraine and Belarus. China produces RZSO "Smerch" under license on its chassis.
Promising developments
In modern Russia, new rocket launchers are being developed. A photo of one of them is presented to your attention. This is the Kama installation on the new KamAZ-6350 chassis with 6 guides instead of 12, which was first demonstrated at the MAKS-2007 aerospace show. The development of the new generation TSS “Tornado”, which will soon take up combat duty both in the Russian army and in the armed forces of other states, is also continuing.