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BM-30 Smerch

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BM-30 Smerch
9A52-2 "Smerch" launch vehicle
TypeMultiple rocket launcher
Place of originSoviet Union, Russia
Service history
In service1989–present
Used bySee Operators
WarsSecond Chechen War
War in Donbas
Syrian Civil War[1]
Second Nagorno-Karabakh War[2]
Russian invasion of Ukraine[3]
Production history
DesignerSplav State Research and Production Enterprise
Designed1980s
ManufacturerSplav State Research and Production Enterprise
Produced1989–present
VariantsSee Variants
Specifications
Mass43.7 t
Length12 m (39 ft 4 in)
Width3.05 m (10 ft)
Height3.05 m (10 ft)
Crew3
Caliber300 mm
Barrels12
Maximum firing range120 km (75 mi) (9M542 rocket)
200 km (120 mi) (9M544 rocket)
Main
armament
9M55 or 9M528 rockets
EngineD12A-525A V12 diesel engine
525 hp (391 kW)
Suspension8×8 wheeled
Operational
range
850 km (530 mi)
Maximum speed 60 km/h (37 mph)

The BM-30 Smerch (Russian: Смерч, lit. 'tornado', 'whirlwind'), 9K58 Smerch or 9A52-2 Smerch-M is a heavy self-propelled 300 mm multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union to fire a full load of 12 solid-fuelled projectiles. The system is intended to defeat personnel, armored, and soft targets in concentration areas, artillery batteries, command posts and ammunition depots. It was designed in the early 1980s and entered service in the Soviet Army in 1989.[4] When first observed by the West in 1983, it received the code MRL 280mm M1983. It continues in use by Russia; a program to replace it with the Tornado-S began in 2018.[5]

9K58 «Smerch» in Saint-Petersburg Artillery museum
9T234-2 transporter-loader of 9K58
9A52-2 launch vehicle of 9K58 / BM-30 Smerch MLRS
9K58 Smerch (IDELF-2008 – Ministry of Defence of Russia exposition)

Operational history

[edit]

The first confirmed combat uses of the Smerch were in two war zones in 2014. Syrian military forces used the system against rebel forces during the Syrian civil war, including in fighting in Jobar.[6] It was also used by Russia-backed militants to deliver explosive and cluster munitions to Ukrainian military positions and likewise by the Ukrainian Army.[7][8] Several have been seen in use by pro-Russian rebels.[9][10] The Russian Ground Forces used the BM-30 in Syria in October 2015 during the Russian intervention in Syria.[11]

During the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenia and Azerbaijan both targeted each other's territory with Smerch rockets.[12]

As of March 2024, there is visual evidence of two Russian Military BM-30s being destroyed in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[13] Smerch rockets were fired from Belgorod in the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine. During the Battle of Kharkiv it is alleged that 11 Smerch rockets were fired on 27–28 February alone.[14]

Components

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The main components of the RSZO 9K58 "Smerch" system are the following:

  • Rockets 9M55 or 9M528 (in containers);
  • BM 9A52-2 launch vehicle;
  • TZM 9T234-2 transloader with an 850 kg crane and 12 spare rockets;
  • Automated fire control equipment in the command post 1K123 "Vivary";
  • Maintenance vehicle PM-2-70 MTO-V;
  • Set of arsenal equipment 9F819;
  • Training facilities 9F827 and 9F840.

300mm rockets with a firing range of 70 and 90 km and various warheads have been developed for the Smerch MLRS.

The 9A52-2 vehicle with the automated system ensures:

  • delivery of fire from an un-surveyed fire position;
  • laying of the launch tube cluster with the crew staying in the cabin and without using aiming points;
  • autonomous determination of an azimuth of the launch tube cluster's longitudinal axis;
  • visual representation of graphical information for the launch tube cluster laying, the route of vehicle movement and location as well as a point of destination and direction of movement on the video terminal;
  • increase in MLRS survivability owing to reduced time of staying at a fire position;
  • increased comfort for the laying operator, especially in adverse weather conditions and at night;
  • increased independent operation owing to the navigation and survey equipment, which allows the vehicle to rapidly change fire positions and move autonomously;
  • reduction of the combat crew.

General characteristics

[edit]
  • Chassis: MAZ-543M or MAZ-79111
  • Emplacement Time: 3 min
  • Displacement Time: 2 min
  • Launch Rate
    • Salvo Time: 12 rounds in 38 seconds
  • Reload Time: 20 min

Variants

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Indian BM-30 Smerch launchers on Indian built Tatra 816 trucks during a military parade
  • 9A52 – Standard variant on MAZ-79111 truck.
  • 9A52-2 – Modified variant on MAZ-543M truck.
  • 9A52-2T – Export version, based on the Tatra T816 10×10 truck.[15]
  • 9A52-4 – Lighter, airmobile version on KamAZ-6350 truck with modular 6-round rocket pack. Demonstrated in 2007.
  • Arctic version with rockets mounted on DT-30PM tracked vehicle.[16]
  • 9A54 – Tornado-S, upgraded with a GLONASS receiver and automated digital FCS.[3][17]

Rocket projectiles

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Variant Rocket Warhead Guidance system Range
Name Type Weight Length Weight Submunition Self-destruct time Min. (km) Max. (km)
9M55K Cluster munition, anti-personnel 800 kg 7.6 m 243 kg 72 × 1.75 kg, each with 96 fragments (4.5 g each) 110 sec
20
70
9M55K1 Cluster munition, self-guided anti-tank 243 kg 5 × 15 kg
9M55K4 Cluster munition, AT minelets. 243 kg 25 × 5 kg mines 24 hour
9M55K5 HEAT/HE-Fragmentation. 243 kg 646 × 0.25 kg (up to 120 mm RHA armor-piercing) 260 sec
9M55F Separable HE-Fragmentation 258 kg
9M55C Thermobaric 243 kg
9M528 HE-Fragmentation 815 kg 243 kg
25
90
9M534 UAV delivery system Drone
20
90
9М542 HE-Fragmentation, PGM 150 kg Inertial, GLONASS, 4 canards
40
120
R624 250 kg Inertial, GPS, 90 pulse engines
70
R624M 170 kg
130

Operators

[edit]
Operators
  Current
  Former
Ukrainian BM-30 Smerch launchers during a military parade
Kuwaiti BM-30 Smerch launchers during a military parade in Kuwait
Armenian BM-30 Smerch launchers during a military parade in Yerevan, 2016

Current operators

[edit]
BM-30 Smerch with projectile as a monument to A.N. Ganichev in Tula city
  •  Algeria – 18 BM-30s received from Russia in 1999.[18] All in service as of 2024.[19]
  •  Armenia – 6 purchased from Russia and received in 2017-18.[18][20] All in service as of 2024.[19]
  •  Azerbaijan – 30 BM-30 Smerch and 6 Polonez in service as of 2024.[18][19]
  •  Belarus – 36 BM-30 Smerch and 10 Polonez/Polonez-M in service as of 2024.[19]
  •  India – Total 42 9A52-2T launchers in service as of 2024 (3 regiments).[19][21] The first deal, worth $450 million, to equip 2 artillery regiments (28 launchers) was signed in December 2005. Deliveries were completed by March 2008.[18]
  •  Kazakhstan – 6 in service as of 2024.[19]
  •  Kuwait – 27 systems in service as of 2024.[18][19]
  •  Russia – 104+ BM-30 Smerch and 20 Tornado-S in service as of 2024. At least 2 BM-30 have been lost in the Russian Invasion of Ukraine as of 20 December 2024.[22]
  •  Syria – Unknown number in service.[19] Used in the Syrian civil war.[23] 2 BM-30 Smerch's were captured by HTS rebel forces in the 2024 Syrian rebel offensive.[24]
  •  Turkmenistan – 6 systems in service as of 2024.[19]
  •  Ukraine – 40 BM-30 Smerch and some Vilkha as of 2024. Serviceability is doubtful.[19]
  •  United Arab Emirates – 6 systems in service as of 2024.[18][19]
  •  Venezuela – 12 systems in service as of 2024.[18][19][25]

Foreign Variants

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Former operators

[edit]

Similar systems

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  • PHL-96 – Visually similar missile based on the Wanshan WS-2400 8x8 cross country truck. However, the PHL-03 and BM-30 do not share interchangeable parts, so they are distinct missiles despite their similar appearance. The Chinese vehicle utilizes a German-designed diesel engine, transmission and hydraulics, manufactured by Wanshan in China, following a technology transfer from ZF Friedrichshafen. The program actually begun in the late 1990s, with the '96' in the designation reportedly meaning 1996, the year that the Chinese military first issued the requirement for a new long range SPMRLS. The program went through major redesign changes when the BM-30 Smerch was purchased.[29] Although dubbed by many Chinese as a guided self-propelled multiple rocket launching system (SPMRLS), the PHL96 is not strictly speaking a guided SPMRLS because, technically, none of rockets are guided – the guidance is actually achieved via the sub-munitions, such as the 9M55K1 cluster munition. Only a very limited number of the PHL96 entered Chinese service because its successor, the PHL03, entered service shortly after.
PHL-03 heavy multiple rocket launcher.
  • A-100 – A 300 mm, 10-tube multiple rocket launcher developed by the Beijing-based China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) in the late 1990s. The A-100 has a minimum firing range of 40 km & a maximum firing range of 100 km.[citation needed]
  • PHL-03 – Chinese development of the PHL96 with 150 km range.[30] The PHL03 is a highly digitized PHL96 with a computerized fire control system (FCS) incorporating GPS/GLONASS, similar to that of the Type 90A SPMRL, with a four-man crew (compared with three for the BM-30/PHL96), which entered service around 2004–2005, only a year or two after its predecessor, the PHL96.[citation needed] As with the PHL96, the PHL03 is not exactly a guided SPMRL because it is the submunitions that are guided, not the rockets themselves.[citation needed]
  • AR-1 – Chinese development of the PHL03. This is actually the first model of the Chinese versions of the BM-30 SPMRL that is a truly a guided rocket system, in that the rockets themselves are guided by the simple primitive cascade inertial terminal guidance used on the WS series SPMRL, which became standard for later Chinese versions. Russia had already developed a guided version of the BM-30 with mid-course radio command guidance to immediately correct the error in the flight of the rocket once detected by the ballistic tracking radar, but this was not adopted due to financial constraints.[citation needed]
  • AR-1A – Chinese development of the AR-1. A 10-round version of the AR-1, with two launching boxes, each containing five expandable launching tubes. Once rockets are launched, the entire launch box is replaced, instead of individually reloading each tube as in earlier versions, thus greatly reducing the reload time.[31][32]
  • A-100E – Export variant of the AR-1A. In service with the Pakistan Army.[citation needed]
  • AR-2 – Chinese development of the AR-1/1A manufactured by Norinco, with range increased to 130 km.[33]
  • AR-3 – Chinese system manufactured by Norinco launching 300 mm or 370 mm rockets[34]
  • Vilkha - A Ukrainian development of the Smerch system that entered service in 2018 with the Ukrainian Rocket Forces.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
External videos
video icon 300mm Smerch Multiple Rocket Launcher:
0:48 – Cluster – fragmentation
1:30 – Separable HE-Frag warhead
2:00 – Cluster – self-guided EFP (AT) elements
3:00 – Cluster – anti-tank mines
3:30 – Cluster – shaped charge/frag elements
3:50 – Unmanned aerial vehicle
5:20 – Thermobaric warhead
  1. ^ BM-30 Smerch and BM-27 Uragan of Syrian Army shooting at IS positions in Palmyra – Syria on YouTube
  2. ^ Ripley, Tim (8 October 2020). "Armenia and Azerbaijan trade heavy fire". Janes. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Ukraine conflict: Russian forces employ guided rockets". Janes Information Services. 11 March 2022. Archived from the original on 19 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Военная кафедра МЭСИ" [MESI Military Department]. vk.mesi.ru (in Russian). 23 December 2007. Archived from the original on 23 December 2007. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  5. ^ Dmitry Fediushko (20 November 2018). "Russia refits Missile Troops and Artillery". Archived from the original on 25 November 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  6. ^ "Syria's BM-30 Smerchs, emerging from the shadows". bellingcat. 27 December 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  7. ^ "Ukraine: Rising Civilian Toll in Luhansk". September 2014. Archived from the original on 1 September 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  8. ^ "Ukraine: Widespread Use of Cluster Munitions". 20 October 2014. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  9. ^ "[1152] Makeevka: Smerch". Bellingcat Vehicles. 22 January 2015. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  10. ^ "[1154] Makeevka: Smerch". Bellingcat Vehicles. 22 January 2015. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  11. ^ "Russian Troops Fire Artillery and Rockets in Syria". ABC News. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  12. ^ ‘Then I Heard a Boom’: Heavy Weapons Take Toll on Civilians in Armenia-Azerbaijan Clash' Kramer, Andrew E. The New York Times, 5 October 2020. Retrieved 8 Oct 2020.
  13. ^ "Attack on Europe: Documenting Russian Equipment Losses During the Russian Invasion of Ukraine".
  14. ^ "Exclusive: Russian general who oversaw atrocities in Syria led cluster bomb attacks on civilians in Ukraine". CNN. 14 May 2022.
  15. ^ "Объединяя лучшее. Боевая машина 9А52-2Т РЗСО «СМЕРЧ» на шасси автомобиля «Татра» на выставке вооружений в Нижнем Тагиле «REA-2008» в 2008 году". Archived from the original on 22 February 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  16. ^ "Russian army Arctic brigade will be equipped with Grad & Smerch MLRS on DT-30PM". Defense Security global news industry army 2018. 14 July 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  17. ^ TORNADO-S 9K515 MLRS. Army Recognition.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i j SIPRI. "SIPRI Arms Transfer Database". SIPRI. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r International Institute for Strategic Studies (2024). The Military Balance 2024. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-040-05115-3.
  20. ^ "Armenia receives $200mln worth of weapons from Russia". Archived from the original on 24 July 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  21. ^ Peri, Dinakar (27 September 2022). "Army deploys medium, long-range weapons across northern border". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
  22. ^ Oryx. "Attack On Europe: Documenting Russian Equipment Losses During The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine". Oryx. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  23. ^ Eliot Higgins (14 February 2014). "Evidence of the Syrian Military Deploying BM-30 Smerch Launched Cluster Munitions". Brown Moses Blog. Archived from the original on 6 March 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  24. ^ "A 3-day SMO Done Right - 2024 Syrian Rebel Offensive and the Resulting Collapse of the Regime Military in Northern Syria". Oryxspioenkop. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  25. ^ "Las Fuerzas Armadas de Venezuela reciben más armamento ruso". Infodefensa (in Spanish). 3 April 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  26. ^ "China Providing AR2 Long-range MLRS to Morocco". Kanwa Daily News. Archived from the original on 25 September 2013. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  27. ^ "United Nations Register of Conventional Arms". Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  28. ^ "Type A100". Global Security. Archived from the original on 27 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  29. ^ John Pike. "9A52-2 BM-30 300-mm Multiple Rocket Launcher". Archived from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  30. ^ Blasko, Dennis J. (17 June 2013). The Chinese Army Today: Tradition and Transformation for the 21st Century. Routledge. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-136-51996-3.
  31. ^ "й³ڱָȱݣʵڣ-½-½". Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  32. ^ "AR2型300毫米远程火箭炮系统 – 飞扬军事 – 信息资讯 – 军事主题 – 陆地狂飙" [AR2 300 mm Long Range Rocket System – Flying Military – Information – Military Theme – Land Mania]. fyjs.cn (in Chinese). 27 September 2013. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  33. ^ "AR2300Զ̻ϵͳ". Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  34. ^ Foss, Christopher F. (24 February 2015). "Long-range firepower [IDX15D2]". Archived from the original on 12 November 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  • Russia's Arms Catalog 2004

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Jamie Prenatt and Adam Hook, Katyusha – Russian Multiple Rocket Launchers 1941–Present, New Vanguard 235, Osprey Publishing Ltd, Oxford 2016. ISBN 978 1 4728 1086 1
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