Hi All,
Interesting that we are looking at Chong Rocket Artillery products and salivating.
MLRS are "area" weapons, as compared to a missile or a howitzer.
It means, they can be used to flatten a general area where we expect the dushman to be.
It can also be used as a psychological/shock weapon before infantry rushes in.
I have talked to a few servicemen and they told me that a barrage of rockets is something they don't want to be at the receiving end of ever again. It was like 50 howitzer shells falling on them at the same time.
At least that is how the modern rockets started.
Soviets used Katyusha to great psychological effect in WW2, where the mere screaming sound of it used to put terror in the Farterland soldier's mind.
They used it effectively in both trench and city warfare - to devastating effect.
Rockets were also expected to be much simpler weapons in terms of manning(after WW2 and during cold war).
You have 2 folks, one driving a truck and another rocket systems operator, you stop, make positional adjustments and fire and then move.This was unlike howitzers which needed 7-10 folks.
Then someone found that larger dia rockets can extend reach as they have more fuel.
So someone like soviets started making different platforms - one with 122mm (Grad) and another with 300mm (smerch)
Somewhere during this evolution, these systems became podded to protect the rockets from elements and also do a quicker pod based replenishment/reload.
Somewhere along this evolution, rocket's masala was experimented with and we got masala with frag, masala with gas, masala with mines, masala with thermobaric/masala with FAE.
Fuses were tinkered with so the blast happens 10m above groud for max area effect.
Then came the demand for more range from the same platform( so that you don't have one platform with 122mm, 2nd with 214mm and 3rd with 300mm rockets and 4th only carrying podded missiles ( like the soviets)).
So we had platforms like HIMARS firing 227mm rockets to 610mm missiles - precision and non precision, both from same system.
Then someone(can't seem to recall if it was burger or fish &chips guys) got technology in this as well, as they found that the longer they go, the more is the CEP and their ultimate area weapons is missing the whole area itself.
For example, a 100 km range rocket can fall 1 km away from it target, if not guided.
So they put guidance into it, thereby using it as a surface to surface precision bombardment weapon.
This is where the lines blurred between rockets and missiles following normal ballistic trajectory. ( But then missiles were having an evolution of its own - on delivery mechanisms, fuels, masala, guidance and trajectory)
So they put guidance into it, thereby using it as a surface to surface precision bombardment weapon.
Now coming to Pinaka, think of it as a system( not a rocket name).
It can fire 40km unguided rocket(122mm and 214mm), 90km guided rocket(214mm), and now work is going on to extend that range.
This requires 300mm as you cannot get more range from same dia size and same fuel. Also note that putting a super duper fuel inside the same rocket will make it costly.
So what do we do - we invest in 300mm and see how much fuel it can hold and how long it will take us. I believe with different fuel and explosive masala content ratios, 300mm can take us to 180kms or nearby.
Eventually my wish is to have Pinaka offer 122mm, 214mm, 300mm guided and unguided rockets( which is already happening or being done) + also offer missile(like ATACAMS or PrSM) for special work(remember that craters in Sargodha?).
For 300-500kms target, we should not throw a BMOS, but use a Pinaka launcher with 2 pods, each carrying a 400mm-500mm missile with specialized warhead to take out a runway or a underground bunker.
Added later - So instead of having heavy and medium and light circus, it makes more sense to have a system which can do all. The moment you go above 50-60kms, anyways rockets cease to be an area weapons due to CEP.
