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Katyusha rocket launcher

Katyusha
Katyusha launcher rear.jpg
BM-13 Katyusha multiple rocket launcher, based on a ZIS-6 truck, Museum of The History of Ukraine in World War II, Kiev (close-up).
Type Multiple rocket launcher
Place of origin Soviet Union
Service history
In service 1939–present
Used by Soviet Union, and others
Wars World War II
Korean War
Vietnam War
Yom Kippur War
Iran–Iraq war
2006 Lebanon War
2011 Libyan civil war
Syrian Civil War
Northern Iraq Offensive
Production history
Designer Georgy Langemak, Kostikov
Manufacturer Plant Comintern in Voronezh
Produced 30.06.1941
Variants BM-13, BM-8, BM-31, BM-14, BM-21, BM-24, BM-25, BM-27, BM-30

Katyusha multiple rocket launchers (Russian: Катю́ша; IPA: [kɐˈtʲuʂə]) are a type of rocket artillery first built and fielded by the Soviet Union in World War II. Multiple rocket launchers such as these deliver explosives to a target area more quickly than conventional artillery, but with lower accuracy and requiring a longer time to reload. They are fragile compared to artillery guns, but are inexpensive, easy to produce, and usable on any chassis. Katyushas of World War II, the first self-propelled artillery mass-produced by the Soviet Union, were usually mounted on ordinary trucks. This mobility gave the Katyusha (and other self-propelled artillery) another advantage: being able to deliver a large blow all at once, and then move before being located and attacked with counter-battery fire.

Katyusha weapons of World War II included the BM-13 launcher, light BM-8, and heavy BM-31. Today, the nickname is also applied to newer truck-mounted Soviet (and not only Soviet) multiple rocket launchers—notably the common BM-21—and derivatives.

Initially, concerns for secrecy kept their military designation from being known by the soldiers who operated them. They were called by code names such as Kostikov guns (after the head of the RNII, the Reaction-Engine Scientific Research Institute), and finally classed as Guards Mortars. The name BM-13 was only allowed into secret documents in 1942, and remained classified until after the war.

Because they were marked with the letter K (for Voronezh Komintern Factory),Red Army troops adopted a nickname from Mikhail Isakovsky's popular wartime song, "Katyusha", about a girl longing for her absent beloved, who has gone away on military service. Katyusha is the Russian equivalent of Katie, an endearing diminutive form of the name Katherine: Yekaterina →Katya →Katyusha.


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