In my post of July 5, 2014 ("More East German Artillery"), I finished a battery of East German BM-21 Grad 122mm multiple rocket launchers. Today, I've got their big brother, the BM-27 Uragan (Russian for "hurricane") 220mm launcher. Because the rocket is quite a bit larger, though still unguided, the Uragan has a reputation for giving targets a real pounding!
You'll see in the above photo that the end of each of the launch tubes has a reddish primer/cap, just like the Grad, one of which is just ahead of the Uragan in the photo.
As with the Grad, the Uragan usually operates in a battalion of batteries and each launcher can fire off all 16 of its rockets in just 20 seconds and hit targets up to 22 miles (35 km) away. While not capable of pinpoint precision, they can saturate an area with reasonable accuracy.
One of their prime uses is to pin an enemy force in place and cut off their avenue of rapid retreat by sowing minefields almost instantly behind and around the enemy. Each rocket can carry 312 PFM-1 mines:
(The Cyrillic "Y" denotes that this is an inert training mine). Each launcher can therefore throw 4992 mines down range, giving each battery a capability of 29,952 and the whole battalion 89,856!! All of which can be in the air within 20 seconds!! A skilled crew can emplace or deplace a launcher vehicle in just 3 mins. That's all pretty damned impressive.
And here's my battery:
The six launcher vehicles, a 1V18 forward observer vehicle, and the battery commander in a UAZ-469.
A little bit more artillery for my East Germans and I'll be satisfied. More from me next post.
Nice work on the battery. So I take it in wargaming terms the if the battery lays a minefield, you would have to mark out an area as being mined? Are the mines anti-personnel only they seem quite small but clearly deadly? Just wondering how effective they would be against mechanized infantry?
ReplyDeleteYes, the minefield would need to be kept track of in some fashion. The mines are anti-personnel, but the purpose of the field isn't to destroy the enemy; just to hold them in place. The mines certainly can blow tires in the case of motorized infantry. For mechanized, I imagine they're strong enough to sever tracks. While not serious, a severed track takes time to repair and time is the point.
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