BM-21

Description

The BM-21 (sometimes known as the M-210) is a 122 millimeter unguided explosive rocket that was utilized mainly by the former Soviet Union and its allies, and is still in service in many countries to this date. It is highly versatile and has been placed on various ground and naval vessels, in large rocket launcher batteries of up to 40 tubes in a turret.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon:

Pr.183 BM-21

General info

Effective damage:

The HE warhead of the rocket with a TNT equivalent of about 10 kg provides a powerful explosive force that rivals that of battleships' main caliber guns (albeit with much less penetration due to comparatively low muzzle velocity.) capable of dealing splash damage between multiple enemies in close proximity to each other, and destroying most unarmoured targets in a single shot. These

Comparison with analogues

The BM-21 rocket is comparable to other unguided rockets like the HVAR, Wgr.41 Spr, and S-13OF in terms of firepower and penetrative capability. All of these rockets can decimate light vessels like torpedo boats in a single hit, crippling them and causing often fatal fires. However, in terms of ship-launched naval rockets, the BM-21 outclasses everything at its B.R due to its superior explosive mass and burn time range. Furthermore, the maximum effective range of the rocket is increased greatly by the fact that the fuel burns for almost the entire duration of flight, which is possible as it is almost 9 meters long and contains a lot of fuel.

Usage in battles

Currently, this rocket is only present on a single vehicle in game, the Pr.183 BM-21, a motor gun boat at BR 3.0. It is best used as a naval 'artillery' weapon to saturate the capture points or enemy spawn with a barrage of powerful splash damage, which will take out most small boats in the area. However, should the circumstances permit, it can be used as a close support weapon against either groups of small enemy vessels or a single, larger craft. A number of well-placed shots against the weak points (e.g engine rooms or turret ammo storage) of much larger craft such as destroyers will severely incapacitate or immobilize the vessel, or even destroy it if fires or breaches are not repaired quickly enough. It can penetrate the waterline hull armour of many of the bigger ships of the BR it is situated in.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Powerful explosive mass deals good damage against all targets.
• Considerable armour penetration, capable of penetrating and destroying targets like the Maus, modern MBTs, and large ships.

Cons:

• Potentially difficult to aim.
• Limited supply of the rockets on the craft.
• Relatively slow muzzle velocity

History

Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of the weapon in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the weapon and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Weapon-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />.

Media

A video guide/review of the weapon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd4lK19tyMk

The in-game overview of the weapon.

See also

• Pr.183 BM-21 This is the only vehicle to feature this weapon.

External links

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BM-21_Grad The Wikipedia page about this weapon.

This external video demonstates the penetrative capabilities of the weapon between 0:08 and 0:42 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd4lK19tyMk