Ogbunigwe

Ogbunigwe
Place of origin	Biafra
Service history
In service	1967-1970
Used by	Biafra  Nigeria (present day)
Wars	Nigerian Civil War
Production history
Designer	Gordian Ezekwe, Benjamin Nwosu, Willy Achukwu, Okezie Confidence .C and others
Designed	September 1967
Manufacturer	Research and Production Organisation of Biafra (RAP)
Variants	Various
Specifications
Effective firing range	8,000 metres (8,700 yd)
Warhead weight	5kg-500kg
Propellant	Rocket propellant
Guidance system	none

Ogbunigwe also called Ojukwu Bucket refers to a series of weapons systems including command detonation mines, improvised explosive devices and rocket propelled missiles, mass-produced by the Republic of Biafra and used against Nigeria between 1967 and 1970 in the Nigerian Civil War.

At the outbreak of hostilities, the Biafran armed forces were poorly equipped as compared to the Nigerian army with arms and ammunition being in short supply. This imbalance in power was intensified in the course of the war. Biafran scientists, prominently from the University of Nigeria Nsukka (then University of Biafra), formed the Research and Production (RAP) Organisation of Biafra which included a Weapons Research and Production Group. It was the aim and purpose of this group to develop an indigenous arms industry and they soon started with the production of ammunition, grenades and armored cars. Their most effective and infamous product was the Ogbunigwe of which there were different types in various sizes. The term Ogbunigwe later came to include grenades and landmines but initially referred to non guided rocket propelled surface-to-air missiles (specifically called flying Ogbunigwe) which were later converted to surface-to-surface missiles. The engineers Gordian Ezekwe, Benjamin Nwosu, Willy Achukwu and others were instrumental in the design and production of the weapons.

The first type of Ogbunigwe to be produced and tested in combat was the rocket propelled surface to surface missile. It was originally designed as a surface to air missile to be used in defense against Nigerian MiG-15 fighters marauding the Enugu airport. Before the missile could be used successfully at its actual purpose as an anti aircraft missile, Nigerian troops captured Enugu where the missiles were being produced in October 1967. Following the fall of Enugu, a group of retreating Biafran soldiers were fighting rear guard action against a battalion of heavily armed Nigerian troops at the Ugwuoba bridge along the old Enugu-Awka road. As the ammunition of the Biafran troops was exhausted their commander ordered them, as a last resort, to adapt the use of the Ogbunigwe surface to air missile they were equipped with, by launching them horizontally at the enemy instead of vertically as designed for anti aircraft action. The effect was devastating and extensive. As a result of this incident, the missile was converted and utilized for the rest of the war as a surface-to-surface missile, and as a surface-to-ship missile during the Second Invasion of Onitsha. The name Ogbunigwe literally means "instrument that kills in multitudes" in the Igbo language.