BM-30 Smerch

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)

BM-30 Smerch
9A52-2 "Smerch" launch vehicle
Type	Multiple rocket launcher
Place of origin	Soviet Union, Russia
Service history
In service	1989–present
Used by	See Operators
Wars	Second Chechen War War in Donbas Syrian Civil War[1] Second Nagorno-Karabakh War[2] Russian invasion of Ukraine[3]
Production history
Designer	Splav State Research and Production Enterprise
Designed	1980s
Manufacturer	Splav State Research and Production Enterprise
Produced	1989–present
Variants	See Variants
Specifications
Mass	43.7 t
Length	12 m (39 ft 4 in)
Width	3.05 m (10 ft)
Height	3.05 m (10 ft)
Crew	3
Caliber	300 mm
Barrels	12
Maximum firing range	120 km (75 mi) (9M542 rocket) 200 km (120 mi) (9M544 rocket)
Main armament	9M55 or 9M528 rockets
Engine	D12A-525A V12 diesel engine 525 hp (391 kW)
Suspension	8×8 wheeled
Operational range	850 km (530 mi)
Maximum speed	60 km/h (37 mph)

Operational history

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

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

• 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

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

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

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

•  Algeria – 50 systems in 1999.^[18]
•  Armenia – 6 systems. Received more as of 2018.^[19]
•  Azerbaijan – 40 systems.^[20]
•  Belarus – 48 systems in 1990.^[21]
•  China – Locally produced as the PHL-03.
•  India – Total 372 9A52-2T launchers in service.^[22] The launchers for the Indian Army's 9K58 Smerch 300 mm multiple launch (MLR) systems are mounted on Indian made T816 KOLOS TATRA. Each launcher has been provided with its own ammunition replenishment vehicle based on the same T816. Since 2012 India's state-owned Ordnance Factory Board has produced several rocket variants for the system that have a strike range of 70 or 90 km.^[23]
•  Kazakhstan^{[24][quantify]}
•  Kuwait – 27 systems in 1996.
•  Morocco – 36 systems PHL03/AR2 Chinese version.^[25][26]
•  Pakistan – 36 units, more produced locally as the A-100E with complete TOT, based on the Chinese A-100,^[27]
•  Russia – 106.^[28] More in production (in 2020).^{[29][30][needs update]}
•  Syria – Unknown number, used in the Syrian civil war.^[31]
•  Turkmenistan – 6 systems 9A52-2T in 2008/2009.^[32]
•  Ukraine – 80 as of 2014.^[33]
•  United Arab Emirates – 6 systems.
•  Venezuela – 12 systems.^[34]

Former operators

• Republic of Belarus (1991–1994)
•  Soviet Union: Passed on to successor states.
•  Iraq – 0 systems in 2016.^[35]
•  Republic of Venezuela

Similar systems

• 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.^[36] 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.^[37] 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.^[38][39]
• 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.^[40]
• AR-3 – Chinese system manufactured by Norinco launching 300 mm or 370 mm rockets^[41]
• Vilkha - A Ukrainian development of the Smerch system that entered service in 2018 with the Ukrainian Rocket Forces.

See also

• Astros II – (Brazil)
• BM-24 – (Soviet Union), 240 mm
• BM-27 Uragan – (Soviet Union), 220 mm
• Fajr-5 – (Iran), 333 mm
• M142 HIMARS – (United States)
• Katyusha – (Soviet Union), BM-13 of World War II
• M270 – (United States)
• Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher – (India), 214 mm
• TOROS – (Turkey), 230–260 mm
• TOS-1 Buratino – (Soviet Union, Russia), Heavy Flame Thrower System (multiple rocket / thermobaric weapon launcher)
• Vilkha – (Ukraine), 300 mm

References

External videos
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

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29. "Artillery brigade in west Russia beefed up with multiple rocket launchers".
30. "ЦАМТО / Новости / В артиллерийское соединение Балтийского флота поступили новые РСЗО "Смерч"".
31. 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.
32. The Military Balance 2010. p.-372
33. "Міністерство". Міністерство оборони України. Archived from the original on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
34. "Las Fuerzas Armadas de Venezuela reciben más armamento ruso". Infodefensa (in Spanish). 3 April 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
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37. 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.
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39. "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.
40. "AR2300Զ̻ϵͳ". Retrieved 23 December 2014.
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• Russia's Arms Catalog 2004

Bibliography

• 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

External links

• Smerch – 9A52 – 300mm multi-barreled rocket launcher – Walk around photos
• Splav State Research and Production Enterprise