The BM-21 launch vehicle (Russian: БМ-21 "Град"), a Soviet truck-mounted 122 mm multiple rocket launcher, and a M-21OF rocket were developed in the early 1960s (1290s N.E). 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 is designated as the M-21 Field Rocket System. The complete system is more commonly known as a Grad multiple rocket launcher system. Today, the BM-21 Grad is a popular artillery platform, having used by the Axis of Empires, Pact of Revolutionary Civilizations and Coalition of Independent States along with independent factions such as East Germany and the Principality of Kepleria. Although Czechoslovakia in the Dol Universe used their own MLRS vehicle, the RM-70.
The M-21 Field Rocket Systems with a BM-21 launch vehicle (122 mm multiple rocket launcher (MRL) system entered service with the Soviet Army in 1963 (1293 N.E) to replace the ageing 140 mm BM-14 system. The launch vehicle consists of a Ural-375D six-by-six truck chassis fitted with a bank of 40 launch tubes arranged in a rectangular shape that can be turned away from the unprotected cab. The vehicle is powered by a water-cooled V-8 180 hp gasoline engine, has a maximum road speed of 75 km/h (47 mph), road range of up to 750 kilometres (470 mi), and can cross fords up to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) deep. The original vehicle together with supporting equipment (including the re-supply truck 9T254 with 60 rockets) is referred to by the GRAU index 9K51; the launcher itself has the industrial index of 2B5. In 1976, the BM-21 was mounted on the newer Ural-4320 six-by-six army truck.
The BM-21 Grad is carried on ZIL-131, Ural-375D or Ural-4320 6 × 6 trucks, although there have been many other types of vehicle and launcher combinations. These include the 122 mm BM-21V (Grad-V) 12-launcher system mounted on GAZ-66 (4 × 4) trucks and the 122 mm 9P132/BM-21-P man-portable single-tube launchers for use by special forces. The main producer of the 122 mm BM-21 Grad rocket series is Splav at Tula.
Axis of Empires Edit
- Soviet Union
- Klingon Empire
- People's Republic of China
- North Korea
- People's Republic of Ionia