BM-8-24

BM-8-24

BM-8-24

USSR

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.3	1.3	1.3

Class:

PREMIUM

Tank destroyer

Purchase:3 850

Show in game

Description

The BM-8-24 is premium Rank I Soviet tank destroyer with a battle rating of 1.3 (AB/RB/SB). The tank was added in Update 1.53 "Firestorm". It is a T-60 chassis carrying Katyusha rocket launcher that can fire 24 rockets towards the enemy.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour

Armour	Front	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	15 mm (73°) Front glacis 35 mm (24°) Lower glacis 35 mm (22-30°) Driver's port	15 mm	10 mm (65-70°) Top 25 mm (28°) Bottom	13 mm
Rocket Pad	25 mm (1-2°)	25 mm (0-1°)	25 mm (2-11°)	25 mm
Cupola	35 mm (34°)	15 mm (8-11°)	10 mm (26°)	13 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels are 10 mm thick, tracks are 15 mm thick
• Belly armour is 10 mm thick.

Mobility

Mobility characteristic
Weight (tons)	Add-on Armour weight (tons)	Max speed (km/h)
5.8	N/A	47 (AB)
		43 (RB/SB)
Engine power (horsepower)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	108	133
Realistic/Simulator	67	76
Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	18.62	22.93
Realistic/Simulator	11.55	13.10

Armaments

Main armament

82 mm M-8 rockets
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
24			-3°/+40°	±13°	N/A
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	8.9	12.4	__.__	__.__	__.__
Realistic	8.9	10.5	__.__	__.__	__.__
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
10.4	__.__	__.__	__.__

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 90°
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
M-8	SSM	24	24	24	24	24	24

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
								0%	50%	100%
M-8	SM	260	7.8	0.0	0.1	Unknown	+0°	79°	80°	81°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the BM-8-24.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	Comments	Visual discrepancy
24	1 (+23)	No

Rockets deplete right to left from bottom to top, but ammo rack don't change until empty.

Usage in the battles

Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Rocket launcher vehicle
• Smallest rocket launcher profile
• High velocity rockets. (Good for medium-long range.)

Cons:

• No other armaments except rocket launchers
• Rockets can only face forwards
• Armour of a T-60 (Very low)
• Extremely long reload time.
• Small rocket supply of only 24.
• Very poor depression can cause it to be problematic to hit low targets at close ranges.
• Limited penetration of rockets even on direct hits, being only able to damage open SPG's and very lightly armoured tanks and SPAA's

History

Development

The concept of a multiple rocket launcher system came about in June 1938, when the Soviet Jet Propulsion Research Institute was authorized by the Main Artillery Directorate to develop such system for the RS-132 rocket in use on their aircraft. A prototype by I. Gvay in Chelyabinsk was tried and fired M-132 rockets on ZiS-5 trucks, though these were unstable and were revised on the proposals of V.N. Galkovskiy to mount the launching rails longitudinally. Testing for the newly made prototype began at the end of 1938, firing 233 rounds in a couple of salvos. The rockets were found to be able to hit up to 5,500 meters out, but the system was not looked fondly upon by the artillery branch. It took 50 minutes to load 24 rockets onto the launching rail, while a regular artillery cannon and howitzer can fire about a hundred in the same time at a sustained rate.

Testing continued up until 1940 and with a prototype of a truck with the launch rails on the back. The design was approved for production before Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, and mass-production began after the first month of the war, where the multiple rocket launchers proved very successful. During the war, the launchers were taken with much secrecy and operated by specialized troops such as the NKVD who do not even know its true name. Through the presence of a "K" on the vehicles from the Komintern Factory, the soldiers operating decided to nickname these launchers "Katyusha" after a popular wartime song of the same name. Up to 3,237 of all types of Katyusha launchers were produced from 1941 to the end of 1942, and more than 10,000 were made by the end of the war.

Advantages and disadvantages

Compared to the contemporary artillery systems of the time, the multiple rocket launcher system presented a different kind of artillery barrages used in the field. Advantages the multiple rocket launcher was that they were simple, extremely effective in saturation bombardment, fires lots of ordnance in a small time span, and were usually attached to mobile vehicles that can permit a quick retreat after firing to prevent counter-battery firing. Disadvantages with the system was that the rockets took a long time to reload, less accurate than regular artillery guns, and cannot sustain fire for a long period of time. However, in the battlefield, the multiple rocket launcher induces a greater psychological effect onto the targets on the receiving end due to the heavy amount of explosives able to be delivered in a short time. A battery of only four launchers could deliver their salvos of about 4.35 tons of explosives in a span of no longer than 10 seconds at a 400,000 square meter area.

Designations

Multiple variants of the multiple rocket launcher system were made in the course of the war as the design is simply the attachment of launch rails onto a variety of vehicles. Each vehicle has different names that follows a template to distinguish their types.

• "BM-x-y" indicates a ground vehicle.
• "M-x-y" indicates a towed variant.
• "y-M-x" indicates a naval variant.

and "x" stands for the missile model while "y" stands for the number of launch rails available for the launcher variant. For example, the BM-8-16 indicates a ground vehicle firing M-8 rockets with 16 rails available to mount on.

Vehicles using the Katyusha launchers range from trucks, cars, and tanks. The production started with trucks such as the ZiS-6, then moving on to STZ-5 artillery tractors, then on Allied Lend-Lease vehicles. The 82 mm M-8 rockets, which saw service in August 1941, was the most popular rocket variant and saw use on the trucks and even tanks, which would make the BM-8-24 rocket launcher tank mounted on the T-60 light tank. Another attempt with tank mounting was with a KV-1 heavy tank as the KV-1K, but as a waste of heavy armour, this was scrapped.

Combat usage

The Katyusha rocket launchers first saw service during the opening of Operation Barbarossa against Germany. On July 14, 1941 under the experimental battery commanded by Captain Ivan Flyorov, seven launchers were used in Rudnya and were able to cause massive destruction to the Germans in he town before they fled in panic. This success prompted the Red Army to build up more Katyushas in their inventory and raise more batteries and regiments for the vehicle. All these units were under NKVD control for secrecy until the Germans reveal their own multiple rocket launcher system, the Nebelwerfer. The Germans nicknamed the Katyusha launchers as the "Stalin's Organ" after Joseph Stalin and how the launchers are organized in a way to look like church organ. This German nickname became widely known in other areas in Western Europe. By the end of 1941, eight regiments and 37 independent battalions were available with a count of 554 Katyushas total.

The rocket launchers continue to become more integrated into the rest of the army as the war continued. Heavy mortar battalions were armed with the newer M-30 rocket launchers with heavy 300 mm M-30 rockets on June 1942. In July, a battalion of rocket launchers were added into the tank corps. The organization and equipment of these mortar battalions equipped with the Katyusha continue to increase and by the end of the war in 57 regiments, about 518 batteries of Katyusha launchers were available.

Legacy

The Katyusha launchers, issued in large numbers in the Eastern Front, was largely successful in the strategic effect of the war, granting the Soviet Union the ability to lay down a very heavy and shocking bombardment very quickly. The success of the system prompted many other countries to pursuit such a system as well, such as the modified T34 Calliope based off the Sherman and the Germans Panzerwerfer 42s. Today, the multiple rocket launcher system is still widespread with the implementation of newer technology, rockets, and missiles that makes the rocket launcher system a very potent weapon to anyone on the receiving end.

Media

Skin and Camouflages for the BM-8-24 in Warthunder Live.

Read also

• [Devblog] BМ-8-24 Rocket Artillery - with developer's answers

Sources

• Wikipedia