The Russian BM-21 Grad MLRS has to be (or certainly its launcher) the most influential Multiple Rocket Launcher System in the Post World War 2 and Cold War era.
Developed in the 1960’s, it entered service with the Former Soviet Army in 1963 and was heavily exported within WARSAW nations and to many other Soviet friendly nations, thanks to its simplicity in design and production, as well as reliability and lethality.
The vast number of operators has generated a huge demand for the supply of its 122mm rockets and like anything that is manufactured in vast volumes, this drives down the production costs and making it a very cost effective form of artillery, which has seen in the last few years the launcher system integrated into a number of new modern MLRS vehicles.
The Russian BM-21 Grad MLRS Original Russian Model
Launcher – Its comprised of 40 launching tubes, which are 122mm calibre. All 40 rockets can be fired within 20 seconds, but can also be fired individually or in small groups in several-second intervals.
Targets are acquired by a PG-1M panoramic telescope sight with a K-1 collimator mounted on the rear of the vehicle and the launcher is then elevated and directed to hit the target. The 4 man crew fire the rockets from within in the cab or from a trigger at the end of a 64m cable.
The rockets when fired are unguided, but stabilised in flight by an imparted spin from the rifling in the launching tubes.
Truck – The Launcher originally was mounted on the Ural-375D 6×6 truck chassis. It used a ZiL-375 180hp V8 engine giving it a top road speed of 75 km/h and operational range 405km. In 1976, the BM-21 was mounted on the newer Ural-4320 6×6 army truck.
The original Ural-375D 6×6 truck chassis also served as the re-supply truck 9T254 which carried 60 spare rockets.
The Russian BM-21 Grad MLRS Rockets
(Russian types, other 122mm rockets are manufactured around the world)
| Origin | Ammunition type | Maximum range | Length | Weight | Warhead weight | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| metres | miles | metres | ft & in | kg | lb | kg | lb | |||
| 9M22U (M-21OF) | USSR/Russia | Fragmentation-HE | 20,380 | 12.66 | 2.87 | 9 ft 5 in | 66.6 | 147 | 18.4 | 41 |
| 9M28F | USSR/Russia | Fragmentation-HE | 15,000 | 9.3 | 2.27 | 7 ft 5 in | 56.5 | 125 | 21.0 | 46 |
| 9M28K | USSR/Russia | Anti-tank mines | 13,400 | 8.3 | 3.04 | 10 ft 0 in | 57.7 | 127 | 22.8 | 50 |
| 9M43 | USSR/Russia | Smoke | 20,000 | 12 | 2.95 | 9 ft 8 in | 66 | 150 | 20.2 | 45 |
| 9M217 | USSR/Russia | Anti-tank submunitions | 30,000 | 19 | 3.04 | 10 ft 0 in | 70 | 150 | 25 | 55 |
| 9M218 | USSR/Russia | HEAT submunitions | 30,000 | 19 | 3.04 | 10 ft 0 in | 70 | 150 | 25 | 55 |
| 9M521 | USSR/Russia | Fragmentation-HE | 40,000 | 25 | 2.87 | 9 ft 5 in | 66 | 150 | 21 | 46 |
| 9M522 | USSR/Russia | Fragmentation-HE | 37,500 | 23.3 | 3.04 | 10 ft 0 in | 70 | 150 | 25 | 55 |
International and modern 122mm MLRS vehicles based on the The Russian BM-21 Grad MLRS
|
Turkey
T-122 – Click here to view |
Serbia
Oganj 2000 ER – Click here to view |
Romania
LAROM – Click here to view |
|
Poland
WR-40 Langusta – Click here to view |
Israel
GradLAR upgrade – Click here to view |
Israel
Lynx – Click here to view |
|
Czechoslovakia
RM-70 series – Click here to view |
China
PHZ89 – Click here to view |
China
Type 81 122mm – Click here to view |
|
China
Type 90 122mm – Click here to view |
Belarus
BM-21A BelGrad – Click here to view |
The Russian BM-21 Grad MLRS Operators
Afghanistan – Afghan National Army
Algeria – 250
Angola – 75
Armenia – 50
Azerbaijan – 63
Bangladesh – KRL 122, Type 90B
Belarus – BM-21 and BM-21A “BelGrad”
Bosnia and Herzegovina – 6
Bulgaria – about 192 active, some 200 in storage
Burkina Faso – 10
Central African Republic – 5
Cambodia – 100
Cameroon – 20
Chad – 4
Ivory Coast – 20
Croatia – 64
Cuba – 250
Cyprus – 4
Republic of the Congo – 6
Democratic Republic of the Congo – 6
Djibouti
Ecuador – 10
Egypt – 215
Eritrea – 25
Ethiopia – 10
Finland – 24 units. Known as 122 RAKH 76. Now withdrawn from service.
Gaza – Hamas and other militants (including Iranian made 20 km range and Chinese 40 km range Grad variants).
Georgia
Greece – 116 RM-70
Hungary – 46
Indonesia – N/A RM-70 (operated by marines)
India – 150+
Iran – 100+
Iraq – 55
Israel – 50 confiscated from militant groups, not in active service
Kazakhstan – 100
Kyrgyzstan – 21
Lebanon – 30-including some BM-11
Liberia – ?
Libya – ?
Morocco – 36
Mongolia – ?
Macedonia – 12
Mali – 2
Mozambique – 5
Myanmar – 230
Namibia – 4
Nicaragua – 30
Niger – 11 APR-21 and APR-40
North Korea
Pakistan – 40
Peru – 14
Poland – 219
Romania – 352
Russia – 1,750
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic – 10
Somaliland – 75
South Ossetia – 5
Syria – 250
Tajikistan – 10
Tanzania – 48
Turkmenistan – 56
Uzbekistan – 36
Ukraine – 600
Venezuela – 52
Vietnam – 800
Yemen – 280
Zambia – 50
Zimbabwe – 25