Russia Mordenised BM-21 9K51 GRAD Multiple Rocket System Upgrade

Next Generation BM-21 9K51 GRAD Multiple Rocket System 


The modernised 9K51 Grad MRS is designed to defeat unsheltered and bunkered manpower, soft-skinned materiel and tanks in concentration areas, artillery and mortar batteries, fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft on landing strips, command posts and other targets, as well as to lay antitank mines.

The BM-21 9K51 Grad MRS Few systems in the world’s artillery arsenal can boast such a wide spread as the Grad (Hail) MLRS developed in the USSR in 1963. Created by the Tula association Splav under the supervision of Chief Designer A. Ganichev, the system initially comprised the M-210F HE fragmentation unguided rocket (index number 9M22U), BM-21 launch vehicle and a transport vehicle with 9F37 racks. Unique design approaches used to develop the system allowed for its mass production in line with extremely good effectiveness-cost criterion. A profound technological analysis of the project, including the introduction of several principally new ammunition manufacture technologies, enabled the licensed mass production of system components in virtually any state with machinebuilding industry. Such a possibility was exploited, for example, by Bulgaria, Slovakia and Rumania. The Grad system is in the inventory of armies in at least 50 countries.

Composition
• BM-21-1 combat vehicle with automated laying and fire control system and launch preparation equipment
• 9T254 transporter-loader with 9F37M unified set of racks
• multi-purpose rocket-assisted projectiles with enhanced range and power

Modernisation programme
• launch range increase to 40 km
• ability to hit soft-skinned targets and tanks
• firing from unsurveyed sites
• laying of the launch tube cluster with the crew staying in the cabin
• autonomous initial orientation, determination of a current position angle and combat vehicle’s coordinates on the move or when parked
• visual representation of graphical information on launch tube cluster laying and CV route with indication of its position, point of destination and direction of movement
• reduction of launch preparation period from the moment of receiving target designation data to the time of opening fire in a battery composition
• enhanced survivability due to reduction of Basic specifications CV time at fire position