Katyusha Rocket Launcher - Post-war Development

Post-war Development

The success and economy of multiple rocket launchers (MRL) have led them to continue to be developed. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union fielded several models of Katyusha-like MRL, notably the BM-21 launchers somewhat inspired by the earlier weapon, and the larger BM-27. Advances in artillery munitions have been applied to some Katyusha-type multiple launch rocket systems, including bomblet submunitions, remotely-deployed land mines, and chemical warheads.

With the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia inherited most of its military arsenal including its large complement of MRLs. In recent history, they have been used by Russian forces during the First and Second Chechen Wars and by Armenian and Azerbaijani forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. Georgian government forces are reported to indiscriminately have used BM-21 or similar rocket artillery in fighting in the 2008 South Ossetia war.

Katyusha-like launchers were exported to Afghanistan, Angola, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, East Germany, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Poland, Syria, and Vietnam. They were also built in Czechoslovakia, the People's Republic of China, North Korea, and Iran.

Proper Katyushas (BM-13s) also saw action in the Korean War, used by the Chinese People's Volunteer Army against the South and United Nations forces. Soviet BM-13s were known to have been imported to China before the Sino-Soviet split and were operational in the People's Liberation Army.

Israel captured BM-24 MRLs during the Six-Day War (1967), used them in two battalions during the Yom Kippur War (1973) and the 1982 Lebanon War, and later developed the MAR-240 launcher for the same rockets, based on a Sherman tank chassis. During the 2006 Lebanon War, Hezbollah fired between 3,970 and 4,228 rockets, from light truck-mounts and single-rail man-portable launchers. About 95% of these were 122 mm (4.8 in) Syrian-manufactured BM-21 artillery rockets, which carried warheads up to 30 kg (66 lb) and had a range of up to 30 km (19 mi). Hamas has launched 122-mm “Grad-type Katyusha” rockets from the Gaza Strip against several cities in Israel, although they are not reported to have truck-mounted launchers.

Some allege that the CIA bought Katyushas from the Egyptian military and supplied them to the Mujahideen (via Pakistan's ISI) during the Soviet Afghan war.

Katyusha-like MRLs were also allegedly used by the Rwandan Patriotic Front during its 1990 invasion of Rwanda, through the 1994 genocide. They were effective in battle, but translated into much anti-Tutsi sentiment in the local media.

It was reported that BM-21 launchers were used against American forces during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. They have also been used in the Afghanistan and Iraq insurgencies. In Iraq, according to Associated Press and Agence France-Presse reports, Katyusha-like rockets were fired at the Green Zone late March 2008.

Katyusha rockets were reportedly by both Gaddafi Loyalists and anti-Gaddafi forces during the 2011 Libyan civil war.

Also, several countries have continued to build and operate Katyusha-like systems well into the 21st century, as for example the Teruel MRL of the Spanish Army.