Katyusha rocket launcher " Katyusha " multiple rocket launchers ( ) are a type of rocket artillery first built and fielded by the Soviet Union in World War II . Multiple rocket launcher s such as these deliver a devastating amount of explosives to a target area more quickly than conventional artillery , but with lower accuracy and requiring a longer time to reload . They are fragile compared to artillery guns , but are inexpensive and easy to produce . " Katyusha " s of World War II , the first self - propelled artillery mass - produced by the Soviet Union , were usually mounted on trucks . This mobility gave the " Katyusha " ( and other self - propelled artillery ) another advantage : being able to deliver a large blow all at once , and then move before being located and attacked with counter - battery fire . " Katyusha " weapons of World War II included the BM - 13 launcher , light BM - 8 , and heavy BM - 31 . Today , the nickname is also applied to newer truck - mounted Soviet ( and not only Soviet ) multiple rocket launchers — notably the common BM - 21 — and derivatives . The nickname . Initially , concerns for secrecy kept their military designation from being known by the soldiers who operated them . They were called by code names such as " Kostikov guns " ( after the head of the RNII - the Reaction - Engine Scientific Research Institute ) , and finally classed as " Guards Mortars " . The name " BM - 13 " was only allowed into secret documents in 1942 , and remained classified until after the war . Because they were marked with the letter " K " ( for Voronezh Komintern Factory ) , Red Army troops adopted a nickname from Mikhail Isakovsky ' s popular wartime song , " " Katyusha " " , about a girl longing for her absent beloved , who has gone away on military service . " Katyusha " is the Russian equivalent of " Katie " , an endearing diminutive form of the name Katherine : " Yekaterina →Katya →Katyusha " . German troops coined the sobriquet " Stalin ' s organ " ( ) , after Soviet leader Joseph Stalin , prompted by the visual resemblance of the launch array to a church organ and the sound of the weapon ' s rocket motors . Weapons of this type are known by the same name in Denmark ( ) , Finland ( ) , France ( ) , Norway ( ) , the Netherlands ( ) , Hungary ( ) , and in Sweden . The heavy BM - 31 launcher was also referred to as " Andryusha " ( " Андрюша " , an affectionate diminutive of “ Andrew ” ) . But in fact , only the Soviet press used this name . World War II . " Katyusha " rocket launchers were mounted on many platforms during World War II , including on trucks , artillery tractor s , tanks , and armoured train s , as well as on naval and riverine vessels as assault support weapons , Soviet engineers also mounted single " Katyusha " rockets on lengths of railway track to serve in urban combat . The design was relatively simple , consisting of racks of parallel rails on which rocket s were mounted , with a folding frame to raise the rails to launch position . Each truck had between 14 and 48 launchers . The M - 13 rocket of the BM - 13 system was long , in diameter and weighed . The weapon is less accurate than conventional artillery guns , but is extremely effective in saturation bombardment , and was particularly feared by German soldiers . A battery of four BM - 13 launchers could fire a salvo in 7 – 10 seconds that delivered 4 . 35 tons of high explosives over a impact zone , making its power roughly equivalent to that of 72 guns . With an efficient crew , the launchers could redeploy to a new location immediately after firing , denying the enemy the opportunity for counterbattery fire . " Katyusha " batteries were often massed in very large numbers to create a shock effect on enemy forces . The weapon ' s disadvantage was the long time it took to reload a launcher , in contrast to conventional guns which could sustain a continuous low rate of fire . The distinctive howling sound of the rocket launching terrified the German troops and could be used for psychological warfare . The rocket ' s devastating destruction also helped to lower the morale of the German army . Development . In June 1938 , the Soviet Jet Propulsion Research Institute ( RNII ) in Leningrad was authorized by the Main Artillery Directorate ( GAU ) to develop a multiple rocket launcher for the RS - 132 aircraft rocket ( RS for , ' rocket - powered shell ' ) . I . Gvay led a design team in Chelyabinsk , Russia , which built several prototype launchers firing the modified 132 mm M - 132 rockets over the sides of ZiS - 5 trucks . These proved unstable , and V . N . Galkovskiy proposed mounting the launch rails longitudinally . In August 1939 , the result was the BM - 13 ( BM stands for " Боевая Mашина " ( translit . " Boyevaya Mashina " ) , ' combat vehicle ' for M - 13 rockets ) . The first large - scale testing of the rocket launchers took place at the end of 1938 , when 233 rounds of various types were used . A salvo of rockets could completely straddle a target at a range of 5 , 500 metres ( 3 . 4 mi ) . But the artillery branch was not fond of the " Katyusha " , because it took up to 50 minutes to load and fire 24 rounds , while a conventional howitzer could fire 95 to 150 rounds in the same time . Testing with various rockets was conducted through 1940 , and the BM - 13 - 16 with launch rails for sixteen rockets was authorized for production . Only forty launchers were built before Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 . After their success in the first month of the war , mass production was ordered and the development of other models proceeded . The " Katyusha " was inexpensive and could be manufactured in light industrial installations which did not have the heavy equipment to build conventional artillery gun barrels . By the end of 1942 , 3 , 237 " Katyusha " launchers of all types had been built , and by the end of the war total production reached about 10 , 000 . The truck - mounted " Katyusha " s were installed on ZiS - 6 6×4 trucks , as well as the two - axle ZiS - 5 and ZiS - 5V . In 1941 , a small number of BM - 13 launchers were mounted on STZ - 5 artillery tractors . A few were also tried on KV tank chassis as the KV - 1K , but this was a needless waste of heavy armour . Starting in 1942 , they were also mounted on various British , Canadian and U . S . Lend - Lease trucks , in which case they were sometimes referred to as BM - 13S . The cross - country performance of the Studebaker US6 2½ ton truck was so good that it became the GAU ' s standard mounting in 1943 , designated BM - 13N ( " normalizovanniy " , ' standardized ' ) , and more than 1 , 800 of this model were manufactured by the end of World War II . After World War II , BM - 13s were based on Soviet - built ZiL - 151 trucks . The 82 mm BM - 8 was approved in August 1941 , and deployed as the BM - 8 - 36 on truck beds and BM - 8 - 24 on T - 40 and T - 60 light tank chassis . Later these were also installed on GAZ - 67 jeeps as the BM - 8 - 8 , and on the larger Studebaker trucks as the BM - 8 - 48 . In 1942 , the team of scientists Leonid Shvarts , Moisei Komissarchik and engineer Yakov Shor received the Stalin prize for the development of the BM - 8 - 48 . Based on the M - 13 , the M - 30 rocket was developed in 1942 . Its bulbous warhead required it to be fired from a grounded frame , called the M - 30 ( single frame , four round ; later double frame , 8 round ) , instead of a launch rail mounted on a truck . In 1944 it became the basis for the BM - 31 - 12 truck - mounted launcher . A battery of BM - 13 - 16 launchers included four firing vehicles , four reload trucks and two technical support trucks , with each firing vehicle having a crew of six . Reloading was executed in 3 – 4 minutes , although the standard procedure was to switch to a new position some 10 km away due to the ease with which the battery could be identified by the enemy . Three batteries were combined into a division ( company ) , and three divisions into a separate mine - firing regiment of rocket artillery . Variants . Soviet World War II missile systems were named according standard templates which are the following : where : In particular , BM - 8 - 16 is a vehicle which fires M - 8 missiles and has 16 rails . BM - 30 - 4 is a vehicle which fires M - 30 missiles and has 4 launch tubes . Short names such as BM - 8 or BM - 13 were used too . Number of launch rails / tubes is absent here . Such names describe launchers only no matter a vehicle they are mounted on . In particular BM - 8 - 24 had a number of variants : vehicle mounted ( ZiS - 5 truck ) , tank mounted ( T - 40 ) and tractor mounted ( STZ - 3 ) . All of them had the same name : BM - 8 - 24 . Other launchers had a number of variants mounted on different vehicles too . Typical set of vehicles for soviet missile systems is the following : Note : There was also an experimental KV - 1K - Katyusha mounted on KV - 1 tank which was not taken in service . A list of some implementations of the " Katyusha " follows : Rocket variants . Rockets used in the above implementations were : The M - 8 and M - 13 rocket could also be fitted with smoke warheads , although this was not common . Combat history . The multiple rocket launchers were top secret in the beginning of World War II . A special unit of the NKVD secret police was raised to operate them . On July 14 , 1941 , an experimental artillery battery of seven launchers was first used in battle at Rudnya in Smolensk province of Russia , under the command of Captain Ivan Flyorov , destroying a concentration of German troops with tanks , armored vehicles and trucks at the marketplace , causing massive German Army casualties and its retreat from the town in panic . The event had been witnessed by a future military historian , then a 20 - year old Russian Sergeant Andrey Sapronov ( 90 years old in 2011 ) . There is a widespread Soviet myth of " Katyusha " ’ s maiden attack of July 14 , 1941 at Orsha in Belarus , destroying a station with several supply trains . It obviously conflicts with the fact that Orsha remained at the hands of the Soviet Army on July 14 and through July 15 . And even on July 16 , 1941 the German troops were unlikely to invade Orsha aboard their supply trains . Thus , had the " Katyusha " ’ s rockets fallen on any supply trains on July 16 , 1941 , those would have been the Soviet trains unable to have left Orsha railroad station . See Russian Wikipedia ' s article " " ( " Guards mortars " ) . Any records of the battery ’ s actions in July 1941 were forbidden . Following the success , the Red Army organized new Guards mortar batteries for the support of infantry divisions . A battery ' s complement was standardized at four launchers . They remained under NKVD control until German " Nebelwerfer " rocket launchers became common later in the war . On August 8 , 1941 , Stalin ordered the formation of eight special Guards mortar regiment s under the direct control of the General Headquarters Reserve ( Stavka - VGK ) . Each regiment comprised three battalion s of three batteries , totalling 36 BM - 13 or BM - 8 launchers . Independent Guards mortar battalions were also formed , comprising 36 launchers in three batteries of twelve . By the end of 1941 , there were eight regiments , 35 independent battalions , and two independent batteries in service , fielding a total of 554 launchers . In June 1942 heavy Guards mortar battalions were formed around the new M - 30 static rocket launch frames , consisting of 96 launchers in three batteries . In July , a battalion of BM - 13s was added to the establishment of a tank corps . In 1944 , the BM - 31 was used in motorized heavy Guards mortar battalions of 48 launchers . In 1943 , Guards mortar brigades , and later divisions , were formed equipped with static launchers . By the end of 1942 , 57 regiments were in service — together with the smaller independent battalions , this was the equivalent of 216 batteries : 21 % BM - 8 light launchers , 56 % BM - 13 , and 23 % M - 30 heavy launchers . By the end of the war , the equivalent of 518 batteries were in service . Post - war development . The success and economy of multiple rocket launcher s ( MRL ) have led them to continue to be developed . During the Cold War , the Soviet Union fielded several models of " Katyusha " - like MRL , notably the BM - 21 launchers somewhat inspired by the earlier weapon , and the larger BM - 27 . Advances in artillery munitions have been applied to some " Katyusha " - type multiple launch rocket systems , including bomblet submunition s , remotely - deployed land mine s , and chemical warheads . With the breakup of the Soviet Union , Russia inherited most of its military arsenal including its large complement of MRLs . In recent history , they have been used by Russian forces during the First and Second Chechen War s and by Armenia n and Azerbaijan i forces during the Nagorno - Karabakh War . Georgia n government forces are reported to indiscriminately have used BM - 21 or similar rocket artillery in fighting in the 2008 South Ossetia war . " Katyusha " - like launchers were exported to Afghanistan , Angola , Czechoslovakia , Egypt , East Germany , Hungary , Iran , Iraq , North Korea , Poland , Syria , and Vietnam . They were also built in Czechoslovakia , the People ' s Republic of China , North Korea , and Iran . Proper " Katyushas " ( BM - 13s ) also saw action in the Korean War , used by the Chinese People ' s Volunteer Army against the South and United Nations forces . Soviet BM - 13s were known to have been imported to China before the Sino - Soviet split and were operational in the People ' s Liberation Army . Israel captured BM - 24 MRLs during the Six - Day War ( 1967 ) , used them in two battalions during the Yom Kippur War ( 1973 ) and the 1982 Lebanon War , and later developed the MAR - 240 launcher for the same rockets , based on a Sherman tank chassis . During the 2006 Lebanon War , Hezbollah fired between 3 , 970 and 4 , 228 rockets , from light truck - mounts and single - rail man - portable launchers . About 95 % of these were 122 mm ( 4 . 8 in ) Syrian - manufactured M - 21OF type artillery rockets which carried warheads up to 30 kg ( 66 lb ) and had a range of 20 km , perhaps up to 30 km ( 19 mi ) . Hamas has launched 122 - mm Grad - type Katyusha rockets from the Gaza Strip against several cities in Israel , although they are not reported to have truck - mounted launchers . Although " Katyusha " originally referred to the mobile launcher , today the rockets are often referred to as " Katyushas " . Some allege that the CIA bought " Katyushas " from the Egyptian military and supplied them to the Mujahideen ( via Pakistan ' s ISI ) during the Soviet Afghan war . " Katyusha " - like MRLs were also allegedly used by the Rwandan Patriotic Front during its 1990 invasion of Rwanda , through the 1994 genocide . They were effective in battle , but translated into much anti - Tutsi sentiment in the local media . It was reported that BM - 21 launchers were used against American forces during the 2003 invasion of Iraq . They have also been used in the Afghanistan and Iraq insurgencies . In Iraq , according to Associated Press and Agence France - Presse reports , " Katyusha " - like rockets were fired at the Green Zone late March 2008 . " Katyusha " rockets were reportedly used by both Gaddafi Loyalists and anti - Gaddafi forces during the 2011 Libyan civil war . Also , several countries have continued to build and operate " Katyusha " - like systems well into the 21st century , as for example the Teruel MRL of the Spanish Army . In February 2013 , the The Defense Ministry of Yemen reported seizing an Iranian ship , and that the ship ' s cargo included ( among its other weapons ) Katyusha rockets .