RS-82 and RS-132 (Reaktivny Snaryad; Russian: Реактивный Снаряд; rocket-powered projectile) were unguided
rocket
A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
s used by
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
military during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Development
Design work on RS-82 and RS-132 rockets began in the late 1920s, by the
Gas Dynamics Laboratory
Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL) (russian: Газодинамическая лаборатория) was the first Soviet research and development laboratory to focus on rocket technology. Its activities were initially devoted to the development o ...
(GDL)
led by
Georgy Langemak
Georgy Erikhovich Langemak (russian: Георгий Эрихович Лангемак; – 11 January 1938) was a Soviet engineer in the Soviet space program, working on rocket design applications. He is chiefly remembered for being the c ...
,
and including
Nikolai Tikhomirov,
Vladimir Artemiev
Vladimir may refer to:
Names
* Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name
* Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name
* Volodymyr for the Ukra ...
,
Boris Petropavlovsky
Boris may refer to:
People
* Boris (given name), a male given name
*:''See'': List of people with given name Boris
* Boris (surname)
* Boris I of Bulgaria (died 907), the first Christian ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire, canonized after his d ...
,
Yuriy Pobedonostsev
Yury, Yuri, Youri, Yurii, Yuriy, Yurij, Iurii or Iouri is the Slavic (russian: Юрий, Yuriy, or uk, Юрій, Yuriy, or bg, Юрий, Jurij, or be, Юры, Jury) form of the masculine given name George; it is derived directly from the Gree ...
, and others. The 82 mm (3.2 in) and 132 mm (5.2 in) diameters were chosen because the standard
smokeless gunpowder
Finnish smokeless powderSmokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to gunpowder ("black powder"). The combustion products are mainly gaseous, compared to a ...
charge used at the time was 24 mm (0.94 in) in diameter and seven of these charges fitted into an 82 mm cylinder. The first test-firing of a solid fuel rocket was carried out in March 1928, which flew for about 1,300 meters
and in 1932 in-air test firings of RS-82 missiles from an
Tupolev I-4
The Tupolev I-4 was a Soviet sesquiplane single-seat fighter. It was conceived in 1927 by Pavel Sukhoi as his first aircraft design for the Tupolev design bureau, and was the first Soviet all-metal fighter.
Design and development
After the first ...
aircraft armed with six launchers successfully took place.
In 1933 GDL became part of the
Reactive Scientific Research Institute
Reactive Scientific Research Institute (commonly known by the joint initialism RNII; russian: Реактивный научно-исследовательский институт, Reaktivnyy nauchno-issledovatel’skiy institut) was one of the ...
, where development of the rockets continued. In
1937, aerodynamically efficient RO-82 rail launchers were designed for mounting these weapons on aircraft.
Operational history
RS-82 officially entered service in 1937 and RS-132 in 1938. The RS-82 missiles were carried by
Polikarpov I-15
The Polikarpov I-15 (russian: И-15) was a Soviet biplane fighter aircraft of the 1930s. Nicknamed ''Chaika'' (''russian: Чайка'', "Seagull") because of its gulled upper wings,Gunston 1995, p. 299.Green and Swanborough 1979, p. 10. it was o ...
,
I-16 and
I-153
The Polikarpov I-153 ''Chaika'' (Russian ''Чайка'', "Seagull") was a late 1930s Soviet biplane fighter. Developed as an advanced version of the I-15 with a retractable undercarriage, the I-153 fought in the Soviet-Japanese combats in Mong ...
fighter planes, the
Polikarpov R-5
The Polikarpov R-5 (russian: Р-5) was a Soviet reconnaissance bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was the standard light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft of the Soviet Air Force for much of the 1930s, while also being used heavily as a civilian l ...
reconnaissance plane and the
Ilyushin Il-2
The Ilyushin Il-2 (Russian: Илью́шин Ил-2) is a ground-attack plane that was produced by the Soviet Union in large numbers during the Second World War. The word ''shturmovík'' (Cyrillic: штурмовик), the generic Russian term ...
close air support plane, while the heavier RS-132 missiles could be carried by bombers.
Many small ships of the
Soviet Navy were also fitted with the RS-82 missile, including the
MO-class small guard ship
The MO (russian: Малый Охотник, ''Malyj Okhotnik''; en, Small Hunter, nickname ''Moshka'' (''Midge'') is a class of small ships produced before and during World War II for the Soviet Navy. Their primary function originally was anti-s ...
.
The earliest known use by the
Soviet Air Force
The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...
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
The Battles of Khalkhin Gol (russian: Бои на Халхин-Голе; mn, Халхын голын байлдаан) were the decisive engagements of the undeclared Soviet–Japanese border conflicts involving the Soviet Union, Mongolia, Ja ...
.
A group of
Polikarpov I-16
The Polikarpov I-16 (russian: Поликарпов И-16) is a Soviet single-engine single-seat fighter aircraft of revolutionary design; it was the world's first low-wing cantilever monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear to attain ope ...
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
The Tupolev ANT-40, also known by its service name Tupolev SB (russian: Скоростной бомбардировщик – ''Skorostnoi Bombardirovschik'' – high speed bomber) and development co-name TsAGI-40, was a high speed twin-engined ...
bombers also used RS-132 for ground attack during the
Winter War
The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...
.
Like most unguided rockets, RS suffered from poor accuracy. Early testing demonstrated that, when fired from 500 m (1,640 ft), a mere 1.1% of 186 fired RS-82 hit a single tank and 3.7% hit a column of tanks. RS-132 accuracy was even worse, with no hits scored in 134 firings during one test. Combat accuracy was even worse, since the rockets were typically fired from even greater distances. The RS-82 could destroy a tank with a direct hit and the larger RS-132 could knock out a tank with a near miss.
Best results were usually attained when firing in salvos against large ground targets.
Almost every Soviet military aircraft of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
was known to carry RS-82 and RS-132, often using field-made launchers. Some
Ilyushin Il-2
The Ilyushin Il-2 (Russian: Илью́шин Ил-2) is a ground-attack plane that was produced by the Soviet Union in large numbers during the Second World War. The word ''shturmovík'' (Cyrillic: штурмовик), the generic Russian term ...
were field-modified to carry up to 24 rockets although the added drag and the weight made this arrangement impractical. A total 12 million missiles of the RS-type were used by Soviet forces during World War II.
RS-derived M-8 and M-13 rockets were used by the famous
Katyusha rocket artillery.
Variants
* RS-82 and RS-132 - earlier high-explosive warhead (HE-Frag)
* RBS-82 and RBS-132 - armor-piercing warhead (APHE)
* ROFS-82 and ROFS-132 - later high-explosive warhead (HE-Frag)
* M-8 - improved RS-82 with a much larger warhead (0.64 kg (1.4 lb) of explosives) and rocket motor for BM-8
Katyusha
* M-13 - improved RS-132 with a much larger warhead (4.9 kg (10.8 lb) of explosives) and rocket motor for BM-13
Katyusha.
Specifications (RS-82)
* Body diameter: 82 mm (3.2 in)
* Wingspan: 200 mm (8 in)
* Length: 600 mm (24 in)
* Weight: 6.8 kg (15 lb)
* Explosive weight: 0.45 kg (0.99 lb)
* Fragmentation radius: 7 m (23 ft)
* Maximum speed: 340 m/s (1,115 ft/s)
* Range: 6.2 km (3.9 mi)
* Spread: 16
angular mil
A milliradian ( SI-symbol mrad, sometimes also abbreviated mil) is an SI derived unit for angular measurement which is defined as a thousandth of a radian (0.001 radian). Milliradians are used in adjustment of firearm sights by adjusting ...
Specifications (RS-132)
* Body diameter: 132 mm (5.2 in)
* Wingspan: 300 mm (11 in)
* Length: 845 mm (33 in)
* Weight: 23.0 kg (50 lb)
* Explosive weight: 0.9 kg (2 lb)
* Fragmentation radius: 10 m (33 ft)
* Maximum speed: 350 m/s (1,150 ft/s)
* Range: 7.1 km (4.4 mi)
* Spread: 16
angular mil
A milliradian ( SI-symbol mrad, sometimes also abbreviated mil) is an SI derived unit for angular measurement which is defined as a thousandth of a radian (0.001 radian). Milliradians are used in adjustment of firearm sights by adjusting ...
See also
*
High Velocity Aircraft Rocket
The High Velocity Aircraft Rocket, or HVAR, also known by the nickname Holy Moses, was an American unguided rocket developed during World War II to attack targets on the ground from aircraft. It saw extensive use during both World War II and the ...
*
Le Prieur rocket
''Le Prieur'' rockets (French ''Fusées Le Prieur'') were a type of incendiary air-to-air rocket used in World War I against observation balloons and airships. They were invented by the French lieutenant Yves Le Prieur and were first used in the ...
*
List of aircraft weapons
This is a list of weapons ( aircraft ordnance) carried by aircraft.
Guns
In World War I, aircraft were initially intended for aerial reconnaissance, however some pilots began to carry rifles in case they spotted enemy planes. Soon, planes were f ...
*
RP-3
The RP-3 (from Rocket Projectile 3 inch) was a British air to ground rocket projectile introduced during the Second World War. The "3 inch" designation referred to the nominal diameter of the rocket motor tube. The use of a warhead gave rise to ...
– British 3 inch rocket, known as "60lb"
References
Bibliography
*
External links
* http://www.airwar.ru/weapon/anur/rs82-132.html
* https://web.archive.org/web/20040818195252/http://www.new-factoria.ru/missile/wobb/bm13/bm13.shtml
{{Russian and Soviet military designation sequences
Air-to-ground rockets
Air-to-air rockets
Rocket artillery
World War II weapons of the Soviet Union
Military equipment introduced in the 1930s