ARTY BM-21 Grad

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BM-21

 

"The BM-21 launch vehicle (Russian: БМ-21 "Град"), (Grad) a Soviet truck-mounted 122 mm multiple rocket launcher,^[1] and a M-21OF rocket^[2] were developed in the early 1960s. BM stands for boyevaya mashina, ‘combat vehicle’, and the nickname grad means ‘hail’. The complete system with the BM-21 launch vehicle and the M-21OF rocket
has designation as M-21 Field Rocket System. The complete system is more commonly known as a Grad multiple rocket launcher system. In NATO countries, the system (either the complete system or the launch vehicle only) was initially known as M1964. Several other countries have copied it or developed similar systems." --Wikipedia

 

I think this would be worth adding to the database because it is enormously widespread and capable of creating some real havoc, at least against lightly armored targets. Certainly, one would want to eliminate these things if a battery of them was anywhere near something you wanted to protect. They also have the advantages (for the bad guys) of being very portable (so they can be moved quickly to new locations as necessary), having fairly impressive ranges (20 km. for the first generation rockets and 30-40 km. for the newest rockets (!)), with each rocket having about the bang of a 155-mm. round (i.e., maybe a 36-DP warhead). A battery of 6 of them would, I guess, have a Rate of Fire of 12 and a Capacity of 240. I'm not sure how many reloads these things can carry, but they can be reloaded quite quickly, too. This is precisely the sort of thing that could be in the hands of terrorists, warlords, etc.

 

ANW

HUD-4 v1.11

 

Follow-up edit...more information at...

 

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/bm-21.htm

http://www.military-today.com/artillery/grad_v.htm

 

The actual rockets are nine feet long and weighs about 130 lbs. with a 40-lb. warhead. I can see a volley of these things really ruining someone's day. I'm not sure if they would work well as coastal defense system (they may not be accurate enough) but I imagine getting hit by one of these things would not be good for the typical trawler or patrol boat...

Ack! I made a mistake with the warheads...I was counting a six-piece battery as a single warhead. The damage from the BM-21 Grad is probably more like 5 DP per warhead (it's actually a bit smaller than a 155-mm. warhead).

 

I'm not sure if it is better and/or more realistic to reduce the RoF and put the damage at 30, like the 105-mm. howitzers (assuming a coordinated blast from several rockets), or keep the RoF high to model lots of individual rockets, each one doing only 5 points of damage. In any event, regardless, I would not want to get hit with 240 of these things!