Learn More About Katyusha Rockets

For all of you following the events in the Middle East, the terms you hear most after Israel,Lebanon , and the Hezbollah is the “Katyusha rockets”. For a non-military person, it may well be the first time you are hearing about them. So what is a Katyusha rocket?

Built by the Soviet Union during the Second World War( yes they are that old!!), it got its name from a popular Russian song, “Katyusha” which talked about a girl waiting for her lover who is far away for military service. Known for being in-accurate, Katyusha is a multiple rocket launcher and is able to deliver explosives to the target in a short period of time. Their other draw back is that they take long time to reload.

During the Second World War, the models widely used were: 132mm-calibre BM-13, 82mm BM-8, and 300mm BM-31.Now a days newer models like:140mm BM-14, 122mm BM-21, and 220mm BM-27 are used.

Designed by Georgy Erikhovich Langemak, a Soviet scientist of Swedish heritage, with a help of a team which included Vladimir Artemiev, Boris Petropavlovsky, Yuriy Pobedonostsev, Katyushas are the weapon of choice for the insurgent groups because they are cheap, have simple design and are easy to assemble and use. They can be fired from a cab or from the back of a truck. Apart from Hezbollah; groups like the Taliban, National Front for Liberation of Vietnam (during the Vietnam War) and insurgents in have used Katyusha rockets.

In the one going Middle East crises, Hezbollah is using the Katyusha’s to bomb Israeli towns. They use the BM-21 models, which have a range of 12.7 miles / 20.4 km. According to the 2004 estimates by the Israeli military, Hezbollah has a stash of 13,000 of these. Of which most are the older models with around 25 km rage, about 500 are new with range of 45 km, and they have some (not more than a dozen) Katyusha’s with range of 115 to 200 km. Iran, which started to develop its own Katyushas, usually modifying the existing models is Hezbollah’s main Katyusha supplier. The rocket launchers which can carry chemicals warheads too, were acquired by countries like , , and in the early 1960s. In fact, they were used against during the Six Day War in 1967.

If you are the tech junkie and would like to know more about the inner workings of the Katyushas, you can visit http://rkkaww2.armchairgeneral.com/galleries/rocketgallery.htm. The site has detailed pictures of various models and also the pictures from WWII, when the Katyushas were used in the battle field.

Sources:

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/weapons/q0279.shtml
www.wikipedia.com
http://rkkaww2.armchairgeneral.com/galleries/rocketgallery.htm