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Main Missile and Artillery Directorate

Department of the Russian Ministry of Defence From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Main Missile and Artillery Directorate
For other uses, see Grau (disambiguation).

The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (Russian: Гла́вное раке́тно-артиллери́йское управле́ние Министе́рства оборо́ны Росси́йской Федера́ции, abbr. ГРАУ Миноборо́ны Росси́и, romanized: Glávnoye rakétno-artilleríyskoye upravléniye Ministérstva oboróny Rossíyskoy Federátsii, abbr. GRAU Minoboróny Rossíi), commonly referred to by its transliterated acronym from Russian: ГРАУ, romanized: GRAU, is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the Chief of Armament and Munition of the Russian Armed Forces, a vice-minister of defense.

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Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (GRAU)
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GRAU emblem
Active1862–present
Current title from 1960
Country Russia
TypeCentral Military Authority
Part ofChief of Armament and Munition of the Russian Armed Forces
Commanders
Current
commander		MajGen Aleksey Volkov[citation needed]
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The organization dates back to 1862 when it was established under the name Главное артиллерийское управление (ГАУ – GAU). The "R" from "rockets" was added to the title from 19 November 1960.

The GRAU is responsible for assigning GRAU indices to Russian army ammunitions and equipment.

As of April 2025, the Chief of the GRAU was Major General Aleksey Volkov.[citation needed]

Arsenals

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Satellite imagery of the Lipetsk arsenal

Arsenals of the GRAU, according to Kommersant-Vlast in 2005, included the 53rd at Dzerzhinsk, Nizhniy Novogorod Oblast, the 55th in the Sklad-40 microraion at Rzhev, the 60th at Kaluga, the 63rd at Lipetsk, the 75th at Serpukhov south of Moscow, and the 97th at Skolin (all five in the Moscow Military District). An additional possibly disused arsenal in the Moscow Military District is the 107th at Toropets.[1] The 5th at Alatyr, Chuvash Republic, the 80th Arsenal at Gagarskiy, the 103rd Arsenal at Saransk, Mordovia,[2] and the 116th at Krasno-Oktyabrskiy were all in the Volga–Urals Military District.[3]

Fires and explosions

Since 2009, there have been a number of fires and explosions at GRAU ammunition storage depots.

  • A major series of explosions occurred at an arms depot of the 31st Arsenal of the Caspian Flotilla near Ulyanovsk on 13 November 2009. At least two people were killed in the explosion and 43 were rescued from a bomb shelter where they had taken refuge.[4]
  • There were fires and explosions at the 102nd Arsenal GRAU at Pugachevo (Malaya Purga) in Udmurtia (Volga-Urals Military District) in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2018, and two other incidents in 2011 at the 99th Arsenal in Bashkiria and at Ashuluk. There were three more fires in 2012.
  • On December 26, 2013, an Antonov An-12B transport aircraft of the Irkut company was flying along the route Novosibirsk - Irkutsk, but when landing, it crashed onto a warehouse of the 109th Arsenal GRAU located near the Irkutsk Northwest Airport (Siberian Military District).[5] All nine people on board were killed - six crew members and three passengers.
  • On 28 June 2022 the cell "BOAK-Vladimir" published a press release claiming sabotage action on railway of Military Unit Number 55443 VD Barsovo (51st Arsenal of the GRAU) near Kirzhach in Vladimir Oblast. The rails were damaged. BOAK's press release stated, "Every stopped train helps to get rid of missiles and rockets, which could hit peaceful Ukrainian cities!"[8]
  • Toropets depot explosions – On the night of 17–18 September 2024, during the Russo-Ukrainian War, Ukraine launched a drone attack on the GRAU ammunition depot in Toropets, causing a massive series of explosions and fires while damaging much of the town.[10][11] The attack resulted in an earthquake-magnitude blast, and NASA satellites detected the resulting fires over an area of approximately 13 km2 (5 sq mi).[12] The blast wave spread up to 200 mi (320 km) and was estimated to be consistent with 200–240 tonnes of TNT (840–1,000 GJ) of high-explosives detonating.[13][12][14] The Security Service of Ukraine claimed that "Iskander, Tochka and KAB missiles" were stored at the facility.[14] Russian officials reported that 13 people had been injured and that an evacuation of the area had been ordered.[15]
  • On 21 September 2024 both the 719th GRAU arsenal near Tikhoretsk and the 23rd GRAU arsenal near Oktyabrsky burned due to drone attacks. The 23rd arsenal is located 16 km south of Toropets, where the GRAU arsenal was still on fire from the attack three days prior.[16]
  • On 9 October 2024 the Karachev ammunition storage depot was attacked by Ukrainian drones. The depot is controlled by the 67th GRAU near Karachev, located in Bryansk region, approximately 114 km from the Ukrainian border. Fires, explosions and continuous detonations for hours resulted, but initial battle damage assessment has not yet been made by independent military analysts.[17][18] Two ammunition depot storage warehouses were destroyed.[19]
  • On 20 November 2024 the 13th arsenal located at Kotovo, Novgorod Oblast was attacked by Ukrainian drones and Kotovo residents were evacuated to nearby Okulovka as a precaution.[20]
  • On 22nd April 2025, the 51st arsenal located at Barsovo, Vladimir Oblast suffered an explosion - officially of accidental origin - followed by fires[21] and 450 residents[22] were evacuated from nearby towns.[23]
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    Extensive fire in and near the 102nd GRAU Arsenal at Pugachevo on 16 May 2018
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    Wildfire enveloping open storage at Military Unit Number 55443 near Zheltukhino on 7 October 2020
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    Fire around the railroad tracks at the entrance to the 93rd GRAU arsenal near Kuzhenkino on 4 September 2024
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    Extensive fire in 23rd arsenal south of Toropets with still ongoing fire at 107th arsenal on 21 September 2024
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    Extensive fire in 719th arsenal northwest of Tikhoretsk, along with fires at the Tikhoretsk air base and rail yard on 21 September 2024
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    Extensive fire in the 51st arsenal near Barsovo on 22 April 2025

Current GRAU indices

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GRAU indices are of the form ⟨number⟩ ⟨letter⟩ ⟨number⟩, sometimes with a further suffix ⟨letter⟩ ⟨number⟩. They may be followed by a specially assigned codename. For example "2 S 19  Msta-S", the 2S19 Msta self-propelled howitzer, has the index 2S19, without suffix; Msta-S is the codename.

Misconceptions

Several common misconceptions surround the scope and originating body of these indices. The GRAU designation is not an industrial designation, nor is it assigned by the design bureau. In addition to its GRAU designation, a given piece of equipment could have a design name, an industrial name and a service designation.

For example, one of the surface-to-air missiles in the S-25 Berkut air defense system had at least four domestic designations:

  • design name: La-205
  • GRAU index: 5V7
  • industry name: Product 205 (Izdeliye 205)
  • Soviet military designation: V-300

Some Soviet general-purpose bombs bore a designation that looked confusingly similar to GRAU.[note 1]

Designation scheme

The first part of a GRAU index is a number indicating which of the several main categories of equipment a given item belongs to. The second part, a Cyrillic character, indicates the subcategory. The third part, a number, indicates the specific model. The optional suffix can be used to differentiate variants of the same model.

1 (Radio and electronics equipment)

2 (Artillery systems)

3 (Army and naval missiles)

4 (Naval missiles and army equipment (munitions, reactive armour, etc.))

5 (Air defense equipment)

  • 5Ae: Computers (5Ae26, a specialized multi-CPU computer with a performance of 1.5 MIPS)
  • 5B: Surface-to-air missile warheads (5B18, the warhead for the S-125's V-601 missile)
  • 5P: Surface-to-air missile launchers (5P75, the four-missile launcher for the S-125 air defense system)
  • 5V: Surface-to-air missiles (5V55, SAM for S-300 air defense system)
  • 5Ya: Surface-to-air missiles (5Ya23, a SAM for the S-75 air defense system)
  • 5#
* 51T6 (SH-11/ABM-4 Gorgone), an exoatmospheric anti-ballistic missile interceptor for the A-135 air defense system
* 53T6 (SH-08/ABM-3 Gazelle), an endoatmospheric interceptor for A-135 air defense system

6 (Firearms, air defense equipment)

7 (Firearm munitions)

Exceptions
  • 71Kh6: the US-KMO Prognoz-2 early warning system satellite
  • 73N6 Baikal-1: an automated air defense command and control system
  • 75E6 Parol-3: the IFF interrogator for the S-75M and S-125
  • 76N6: a low-altitude target detector radar

8 (Army missiles and rocketry)

9 (Army missiles, UAVs)

10 (Equipment)

  • 10P: Sights (10P19, the PGO-7V sight for RPG-7V grenade launcher)
  • 10R: Radios (10R30 Karat-2, a radio transmitter)

11 (Rocketry and associated equipment)

14 (Rocketry and associated equipment)

  • 14A: Rockets (14A15, is the "Soyuz-2-1v")
  • 14D: Rocket engines (14D30, the "Briz" booster's S5.98M liquid fuel engine)
  • 14F: Satellites (14F10, the IS-MU Naryad anti-satellite weapon)
  • 14I: Ground equipment (14I02, the ground equipment for the "Briz" booster's 8P882 system)
  • 14P: Ground equipment (14P72, the service system for the "Briz" booster)
  • 14S: Boosters (14S12, the "Briz" booster)
  • 14T: Ground equipment (14T81, the storage equipment for the "Briz" booster)

15 (Strategic Missile Forces equipment)

17 (Rocketry and associated equipment)

  • 17D: Misc. rocket engines (17D58Ae, the stabilization and orientation engine of the "Briz-M" booster)
  • 17F: Satellites (17F15 Raduga-1, a telecommunications satellite)
  • 17K: Space-based systems (17K114, a space-based reconnaissance and targeting system)
  • 17P: Ground equipment (17P31, the start system for 11K25)
  • 17S: Rocket stages (17S40, Unit D of the Proton launcher)
  • 17U: Ground equipment (17U551, the "Briz-M" booster testing system)

See also

Notes

  1. [N 1]
    For example, the FAB-250sch entered service in 1944 with the designation 7-F-334, which was not assigned by GRAU.

References

Further reading

External links

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