Specifications of MRL 122mm, Ukrainian-made Missile System Rumored Repair from the Russian BM-21 Grad

BM-21 GRAD 9K51 MLRS /Army Recognition

Kiev - Ukraine is known to have built a homemade 122mm MRL using the Russian BM 21 Grad. This is known to have started from photos shared on social networks. In which it confirms that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are repairing and remanufacturing every weapon captured by the Russian Armed Forces.

Quoted from the Bulgarian Military, it is also known that Ukraine lacks sufficient missile systems. The rocket system consists of only two rocket tubes. This system is also commonly used for irregular "shoot and run" operations, being mounted on a tubular and configured main body. The entire missile system was integrated on a likely Soviet UAZ pickup.

Not only that, the firing angle of the two rocket tubes is adjusted using a helical cylindrical winding lever, at the end of which is a welded homemade rudder.

Depending on whether the rudder rotates clockwise or counterclockwise, the lever of the self-winding helical cylinder raises, or lowers the two rocket tubes at one end and thereby changes the firing angle and range of the missile.

It was not immediately clear how the rocket was ignited, whether electrical or mechanical. The two missile tubes, part of an entire homemade missile system, came from the captured Soviet 122 mm BM-21 Grad dual rocket launcher.

In its original configuration, each of the 40 tubes of the Soviet rocket system fired up to two artillery shells in one second. In the Ukrainian homemade configuration, it is clear that this is impossible to achieve. Moreover, the muzzle velocity of the system, which in the original Soviet version was 690 m/s [2,264 ft/s].

However, there is a lack of information about the most important feature of the Ukrainian-made missile system, namely the range of missiles fired. In the original Soviet version, the missile could hit targets a minimum of half a kilometer and a maximum of 45 kilometers, but this was through the use of newer missiles.

It is this older Soviet missile produced for the BM-21 Grad which can reach a maximum range of more than 20 kilometers. However, both the original Soviet copy and the Ukrainian-made copy were considered to be most effective at close range.

Quoted from Army Recognition, the BM-21 Grad is a Soviet truck-mounted 122 mm dual rocket launcher, which was developed in the early 1960s.

Development of the BM-21 Grad 122 mm division-level RSZO took place in the mid-1950s under the guidance of the Splav Scientific Production Concern in Tula.

The BM-21 122 mm dual rocket launcher (MRL) system also entered service with the Soviet Army in 1963 to replace the aging 140 mm BM-14 system.

The main role of the BM-21 Grad system is to support divisions with suppressive fire against positions of anti-tank missiles, artillery and mortars, to destroy strong points and eliminate nodes of enemy resistance on the direct battlefield.