RS-82 and RS-132 (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Реактивный Снаряд, ''Reaktivny Snaryad''; rocket-powered projectile) were unguided

rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

s used by

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

military during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Development

Design work on RS-82 and RS-132 rockets began in the late 1920s, by the

Gas Dynamics Laboratory Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL) () was the first Soviet research and development laboratory to focus on rocket technology. Its activities were initially devoted to the development of Solid-propellant rocket, solid propellant rockets, which becam ...

(GDL) led by

Georgy Langemak Georgy Erikhovich Langemak (; – 11 January 1938) was a Soviet engineer, working on rocket design applications. He is chiefly remembered for being the co-designer and directing the development of the aircraft unguided rockets, such as the RS ...

, and including Nikolai Tikhomirov,

Vladimir Artemiev Vladimir (, , pre-1918 orthography: ) is a masculine given name of Slavic origin, widespread throughout all Slavic nations in different forms and spellings. The earliest record of a person with the name is Vladimir of Bulgaria (). Etymology ...

Boris Petropavlovsky Boris may refer to: People * Boris (given name), a male given name * *List of people with given name Boris * Boris (surname) Arts and media * Boris (band), a Japanese experimental rock trio * ''Boris'' (EP), by Yezda Urfa, 1975 * "Boris" (son ...

, Yuriy Pobedonostsev, and others. The 82 mm (3.2 in) and 132 mm (5.2 in) diameters were chosen because the standard

smokeless gunpowder Finnish smokeless powder Smokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to black powder. Because of their similar use, both the original black powder formula ...

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 fi ...

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; ) was one of the first Soviet research and development institutions to focus on rocket technology. RNII developed the Katyusha rocket launcher and its researc ...

, where development of the rockets continued. In

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Feb ...

, 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 () was a Soviet biplane fighter aircraft of the 1930s. Nicknamed ''Chaika'' (', "gull") because of its gulled upper wings,Gunston 1995, p. 299.Green and Swanborough 1979, p. 10. it was operated in large numbers by the Soviet ...

, I-16 and

I-153 The Polikarpov I-153 ''Chaika'' () is a late 1930s Soviet sesquiplane fighter. Developed from the I-15 with a retractable undercarriage, the I-153 fought in the Soviet-Japanese combats in Mongolia and was one of the major Soviet fighter types ...

fighter planes, the

Polikarpov R-5 The Polikarpov R-5 () was a Soviet Union, 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 ...

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 The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...

were also fitted with the RS-82 missile, including the MO-class small guard ship. The earliest known use by the

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

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 (; ) were the decisive engagements of the undeclared Soviet–Japanese border conflicts involving the Soviet Union, Mongolia, Japan and Manchukuo in 1939. The conflict was named after the river Khalkhin Gol, which p ...

. A group of

Polikarpov I-16 The Polikarpov I-16 () is a Soviet single-engine single-seat fighter aircraft of revolutionary design; it is a low-wing cantilever monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear, and the first such aircraft to attain operational status. It "in ...

fighters under command of Captain N. Zvonarev were using RS-82 rockets against Japanese aircraft, shooting down 16 fighters and 3 bombers in total. In the same year, as part of the attempted annexation of Finland, in the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

, six RS-132 rockets were fired, from

Tupolev SB The Tupolev ANT-40, also known by its service name Tupolev SB ( – ''Skorostnoi Bombardirovschik'' – high speed bomber) and development co-name TsAGI-40, was a high speed twin-engined three-seat monoplane bomber, first flown in 1934. The Tup ...

bombers, against Finnish ground targets. 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

was known to carry RS-82 and RS-132, often using field-made launchers. Some

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 Katyusha () is a diminutive of the Russian name Ekaterina or Yekaterina, the Russian form of Katherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in c ...

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

* M-13 - improved RS-132 with a much larger warhead (4.9 kg (10.8 lb) of explosives) and rocket motor for BM-13

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 t ...

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

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