Watch a Croatian Volcano battery erupt in a live-fire exercise

Harold C. Hutchison
Nov 1, 2018 9:30 PM PDT
1 minute read
Artillery photo

SUMMARY

Artillery has long been the king of battles — but one of these kings has been far more devastating than others. Guns are accurate, but one conventional shell won’t do the job against a lot of bad guys, and a nuclear artillery round, like one from…

Artillery has long been the king of battles — but one of these kings has been far more devastating than others. Guns are accurate, but one conventional shell won't do the job against a lot of bad guys, and a nuclear artillery round, like one from the W48, is overkill.


A M270 MLRS fires a rocket. (Photo by Wikimedia Commons)

Thankfully, there's middle ground: rockets. More accurately, there're multiple-launch rocket systems. Perhaps the most well-known is the M270 Multiple-Launch Rocket System, or MLRS. This system fires 12 rockets to a range of up to 44 miles. It's lethal and it's been combat-proven in Desert Storm and the Global War on Terror.

But M270 isn't the only system of its type out there. Russia had the first, notorious Katyusha and, most notably, the BM-21. The BM-21 was Russia's primary multiple-launch rocket system. According to MilitaryFactory.com, the BM-21 holds 40 rockets and can fire them up to 20 miles away — not bad for a system that entered service in 1964, 18 years before the United States Army had the MLRS.

The BM-21, a widely-exported multiple-launch rocket system. (Photo by Wikimedia Commons)

The thing is, like a number of older Russian systems, it was widely exported. And, just as India did with its MiG-21s, some countries have upgraded their old Russian tech. Romania, for example, made modifications to the BM-21 to create the APRA-40. This system is based on a six-wheeled truck. Romania exported this system to a number of other countries, including Croatia.

A Romanian-built APR-40, that country's own multiple-launch rocket system. (Photo by Wikimedia Commons)

The Croatians reportedly want to buy the American M270, but until then, this modern version of Russia's famous BM-21 will help them hold the line. You can see what these launchers, assigned to the "Volcano" Battery of the Croatian Army, can do below:

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