The LAR-160 is a light

artillery rocket Rocket artillery is artillery that uses rocket (weapon), rocket explosives as the projectile. The use of rocket artillery dates back to medieval China where devices such as fire arrows were used (albeit mostly as a Psychological warfare, psycholo ...

(hence ''LAR'') with a 160mm calibre, a minimum range of 12 km and a maximum range of 45 km, from a

multiple rocket launcher A multiple rocket launcher (MRL) or multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) is a type of rocket artillery system that contains multiple launchers which are fixed to a single platform, and shoots its rocket ordnance in a fashion similar to a volle ...

. Each standard launcher holds two 13 rocket Launch Pod Containers (LPC's) for truck or trailer mounting, 18 rocket LPC's for medium armored vehicle's (AMX-13, TAM) and 26 rocket LPC's for mounting on a MBT chassis. A light version is also manufactured which can be carried by helicopters and towed behind vehicles such as a

HMMWV The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV; colloquial: Humvee) is a family of light, four-wheel drive, military trucks and utility vehicles produced by AM General. It has largely supplanted the roles previously performed by the ori ...

Development

The LAR-160 was designed in the late 1970s by

Israel Military Industries , former_name = Israel Military Industries , type = State-owned enterprise , industry = Arms industry , fate = Acquired by Elbit Systems , successor = Elbit Systems Land , founded = , founder = , defunct = , hq_location_city = Ramat ...

, it was adopted by the

Israeli Defense Forces Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli ...

in 1983.

Armament

The LAR-160s rocket has undergone continuous development and has resulted in the Mk. I, Mk. II and Mk.IV rockets.

Mk. I Rocket

The Mk. I rocket is 3.4 m long and has a diameter of 160 mm fueled by solid propellant. The Mk. I is 100 kg and has a 40 kg HE-COFRAM (High Explosive-Controlled Fragmentation) warhead which is activated by an

impact Impact may refer to: * Impact (mechanics), a high force or shock (mechanics) over a short time period * Impact, Texas, a town in Taylor County, Texas, US Science and technology * Impact crater, a meteor crater caused by an impact event * Impact ...

fuze or

proximity fuze A proximity fuze (or fuse) is a Fuze (munitions), fuze that detonates an Explosive material, explosive device automatically when the distance to the target becomes smaller than a predetermined value. Proximity fuzes are designed for targets such ...

. The Mk. 1 was first used by the

Venezuelan Army The Venezuelan Army, officially the National Army of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, Ejército Nacional de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is one of the six professional branches of the Armed Forces of Venezuela. Also known ...

on an

AMX-13 The AMX-13 is a French light tank produced from 1952 to 1987. It served with the French Army, as the Char 13t-75 Modèle 51, and was exported to more than 26 other nations. Named after its initial weight of 13 tonnes, and featuring a tough and r ...

hull.

Mk. II Rocket

The Mk. II rocket weighs 110 kg and has a 46 kg warhead which is either HE-COFRAM or a

cluster warhead A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehicl ...

containing 104 CL-3022-S4 AP/AM submunitions. A remotely set electronic fuze opens the canister at the appropriate height to give area coverage of about 31,400 m2. All 26 rockets can be fired in under 60 seconds and re-loaded in under five minutes from a conventional truck with a 15 t/m crane.

Launcher

The LAR-160 incorporates a modern command, control, communications and intelligence system called ACCS, which has a total interface capability to all common artillery elements including meteorological unit, forward observers as well as mapping, GPS and other items. Elevation and traverse of the launchers are performed by an electrohydraulic system, which is backed up by a manual system. When the system is fitted on a wheeled chassis, two hydraulically operated stabilisers are lowered to the ground to provide a more stable firing platform.

Service history

The system was used extensively by the

Georgian Army The Defence Forces of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს თავდაცვის ძალები, tr), or Georgian Defence Forces (GDF), are the combined military forces of Georgia, tasked with the defense of the nation's indep ...

against

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and

South Ossetia South Ossetia, ka, სამხრეთი ოსეთი, ( , ), officially the Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania, is a partially recognised landlocked state in the South Caucasus. It has an officially stated populat ...

n Forces in the

2008 Russo-Georgian War The 2008 Russo-Georgian WarThe war is known by a variety of other names, including Five-Day War, August War and Russian invasion of Georgia. was a war between Georgia (country), Georgia, on one side, and Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaim ...

, systems showed to be extremely effective against Ossetian static targets and large Russian convoys, LAR systems were credited with destroying many Russian trucks and disabling armored vehicles. Romania uses a domestic version of the LAR-160, called

LAROM The LAROM is a Romanian native-made, highly mobile, multiple rocket launcher, attached to a DAC-25.360 6x6 truck, in service with the Romanian Land Forces, built in collaboration with Israel. Currently there are 54 systems in service, all opera ...

and Argentina uses a domestic version as well called TAM VCLC. The

HALO Trust The HALO Trust (Hazardous Area Life-support Organization) is a non-political and non-religious registered British charity and American non-profit organization which removes debris left behind by war, in particular land mines. With over 10,000 staf ...

reported that Azerbaijan employed the LAR-160 to drop M095 rocket-dispensed cluster bombs around Armenian-populated settlements in the NKR during the

2016 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes The 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, also known as the Four-Day War,, IPA: ʰɑroɾjɑ pɑtɛɾɑzm az, Dördgünlük müharibə April War,; or April clashes, began along the Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact on 1 April 2016 with the Artsakh D ...

. The

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

verified Azerbaijani multiple usage of the LAR-160 to drop M095 rocket-dispensed cluster bombs against populated settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh in October 2020.

Operators

* – 1 ( TAM VCLC version) * – 30 * – 8 * – 12 Delivered from Israel in 2007. * – (ACCULAR-122 version on MLRS hull) * * – (

Version) * – 20 (mounted on

hull)

References

{{reflist

External links

LAR-160 on IMI website

Lynx launcher vehicle on IMI website
Rocket artillery Multiple rocket launchers of Israel Modular rocket launchers Cluster munition Military equipment introduced in the 1980s