India’s $500M Smerch-M Order: From Russia, With Love
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After nearly five years of negotiations, IANS reports that India finally signed a $500 million deal with Russia on Dec 31/05 for SPLAV’s Smerch-M BM 9K58 long-range 300mm multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS). Compare them to India’s older truck-mounted 122mm Grad rocket launchers, and the capability boost quickly becomes apparent. The Smerch-M contract includes 28 wheeled MAZ-543A vehicles with 12-tube 9A52-2 launchers, plus logistics supply and fire-control vehicles. The systems will arm two artillery regiments of 12 Smerch-Ms each, with 4 platforms being kept in reserve.
So, what kind of capabilities does this weapon bring to the table? It may not be the Soviet NKVD’s dreaded World War 2 SMERSH (“death to spies”) investigations units, who sometimes acted to stiffen defenders’ resolve by waiting in vehicles with machine guns just behind the front lines. The Smerch 9K58s may stiffen resolve on the front lines for different reasons, however, and they may also end up being justly feared.
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The 48.5 ton Smerch version the Indian Army is acquiring is capable of firing six types of rockets to a maximum range of 90 km. This is approximately 60 km further than regional rival Pakistan’s M109 self-propelled howitzers can fire. In addition, several of its rocket types have submunitions warheads that can cover wide areas with anti-armor or fragmentation munitions, neutralizing concentrations of armor and troops well beyond the range of any of India’s present artillery systems. The 9M55C rocket even packs a 500-pound thermobaric (fuel-air explosive) warhead.
Novosti Press Agency notes that with the signing of the contract, India will become the third foreign country to receive the Smerch MLRS. Russia delivered 18 systems to Algeria in 1999, and 27 systems to Kuwait in 1995-1996.
Defence Ministry sources said that the Smerch contract was divided into 3 stages over 3 years, with deliveries scheduled to begin later this year with the arrival of launchers and ‘basic’ rockets. More advanced version launchers and the guided rockets would arrive in subsequent stages, with deliveries to be completed some time in early 2008.
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In other news, IANS notes that a separate contract for 28 Tungushka M1 self-propelled gun and missile systems for low-level air defence is expected to be signed before the end of 2005-06.
The Tunguska-M1 vehicle carries eight 9M311-M1 (SA-19 Grison) surface-to-air missiles with semi-automatic radar command to line-of-sight guidance. Range is from 15 – 6,000m for ground targets, and 15 – 10,000m for aerial targets. Two twin-barrel 30mm anti-aircraft guns are also mounted on the vehicle. These guns have a maximum firing rate of 5,000 rounds per minute and a range of 3 km against air targets, or 4 km against ground targets. A target acquisition radar and target tracking radar, optical sight, and digital computing system guides these weapons, with a detection range of 18 km and a tracking range of 16 km.
Four of India’s artillery regiments have already been operating around 80 Tungushka M1 systems since the late 1990s.
