RS-82

RS-82 and RS-132 (Reaktivny Snaryad; Russian: Реактивный Снаряд; rocket-powered projectile) were unguided rockets used by Soviet military aircraft in World War II.

Design work on RS-82 and RS-132 rockets began in the early 1930s, by a team led by Georgy Langemak, and including Vladimir Artemiev, Boris Petropavlovsky, Yuriy Pobedonostsev, and others. The 82 mm (3.2 in) and 132 mm (5.2 in) diameters were chosen because the standard smokeless gunpowder charge used at the time was 24 mm (0.94 in) in diameter and seven of these charges fit into an 82 mm cylinder. First test-firing was done in November 1929. In 1937, aerodynamically efficient RO-82 rail launchers were designed for mounting these weapons on aircraft.

Following the pioneering use of Le Prieur rockets in the use of air-launched rocket armament in World War I, done since 1916 on the Western Front, and that had been first done for the Central Powers in WW I by Rudolf Nebel from Halberstadt D.II biplanes of the Luftstreitkräfte during the first half of 1916, the earliest known use by the Soviet Air Force of aircraft-launched unguided anti-aircraft rockets in combat against heavier-than-air aircraft took place in August 1939, during the Battle of Khalkhin Gol. A group of Polikarpov I-16 fighters under command of Captain N. Zvonarev were using RS-82 rockets against Japanese aircraft, shooting down 16 fighters and 3 bombers in total. Six Tupolev SB bombers also used RS-132 for ground attack during the Winter War. RS-82 and RS-132 officially entered service in 1940.

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