Not Only Western Weapons, Ukraine's Military Also Uses Mini-Rakitan Rocket Launchers: Use Soviet Era Components

Mini grad Ukraine. (Screenshot of Ukraine Twitter/@Al_iinkishariu)

JAKARTA - In addition to the modern line-up of weapons from the West, who would have thought that the Ukrainian military would also use homemade weapons to deal with Russian invasions, such as rocket launchers made using components taken from Soviet-era defense equipment.

Mini-Grad used a pipe from the BM-21 Grad double rocket launcher designed by the Soviet Union which was developed in the 1960s, and can be mounted on pickup trucks, providing additional mobility for the Kyiv retaliatory attack that began in early June.

"We have equipment that we call mini-Grad equipment. This equipment is made of a BM-21 Grad pipe placed on a pickup truck, making it easy to transport," a Ukrainian soldier with a call sign 'Gall' told Reuters in the southeastern region of Zaporizhia, as quoted August 1.

"We tried to make it more precise than Grad. They had the same firing pattern, but thanks to the extra mechanism for targeting and shorter distances (they were fired at), we tried to make mini-Grad more precise," he explained.

Gall, a member of Ukraine's 108th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade, said the mini-Grad was not as accurate as the advanced HIMARS rocket system Kyiv received from the United States, but made it possible to approach enemy lines.

"I can't say that we reached a target with a higher precision than BM-21, but we were able to go closer (to the target)," he said.

Meanwhile, a colleague who has the call sign 'Luka' said mini-Grad has a time controller, helping to protect those who operate it.

Separately, the volunteers who built the launch station, Yurii Osokolanskyi, said there was room for three rockets, less than the BM-21 Grad.

"Why? Because we believe three rockets will land where we need them. It's a bit ineffective firing 10, eight or two rockets on one target," he explained.

"We fired three rockets right. The soldiers were then able to change their position, recharge, and continue to fire at different targets," he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Musiyenko said there were three advantages in using mini-Grad, namely; their mobility allowed it to move fast, units that had it could fire targets without waiting for artillery from anywhere else, and they offered extra firepower for infantry units.

He said the development of the weaponry was designed to "provide advantages for units that usually do not have weapons of this type."

#Ukraine️ / #Russia🇺🇦🇷🇺: Ukrainian forces fire rockets from mini grads #UkraineRussianWar #Ukraine #UkraineInvasion #UkraineWar pic.twitter.com/qSjCNq7D3G

— Bayek (@Al_iinkishariu) May 2, 2023

#Ukraine / #Russia Badminton: Ukraine forces fires from mini grads #UkraineRussianWar #Ukraine #UkraineInvasion #UkraineWar pic.twitter.com/qSjCNq7D3G