The use of mini-MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket Systems), essentially various chassis carrying launchers for unguided rockets, has been one of the notable developments during the full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine. Both Ukrainian and Russian forces were seen using these improvised weapons.
However, such rocket launchers are not a know-how exclusive to this conflict, similar solutions have been used in various wars over the past 40 years. With that in mind, it might be interesting to analyze the incentives behind their use in these conflicts and draw a comparison with modern realities.
Read more: Ukrainian Artisans Created an MLRS Out of a russian Helicopter Rocket Launcher
A report by the Armament Research Services (ARES) group offers valuable historical insights into the use of launchers for S-5 air-launched unguided rockets with ground platforms as mini-MLRS. The authors focused on the following questions: who and how used such weapons, and under what conditions it happened.
The analysis begins with a description of Soviet practices during the Afghanistan war (1979-1989). The first example mentioned is a T-62 main battle tank equipped with three UB-32 rocket pods. The report also notes the trend of mounting UB-32 pods on armored personnel carriers, recovery vehicles, or even minimally protected gun trucks.
The motivation for this practice was that, despite having sufficient artillery and air support, Soviet troops in Afghanistan sometimes couldn't use them properly due to terrain. This led to the installation of UB-32 rocket pods with S-5 aircraft rockets on various ground-based platforms. The abundance of launchers and rockets made up for the low accuracy by creating a barrage of fire.
Moving closer to modern counterparts, the pro-Kremlin regime troops of Najibullah in Afghanistan were pioneers in mounting UB-32s on jeeps, motivated by the same factors as their Soviet predecessors: excess rockets and launchers, and the need for a flexible fire barrage tool.
The ARES analysis also describes the use of mini-MLRS with S-5 rockets during the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and it looks a bit more exotic: there were not only improvised vehicles but also man-portable launchers with single tubes for S-5 rockets.
The nuance about this episode is that none of the sides in these wars could utilize their aviation to the full extent, and there were problems with ammunition supply in general. These issues forced combatants to adapt and use S-5s in infantry-portable launchers similar to the Soviet Grad-P.
In contrast, the forces of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria did not widely adopt improvised MLRS, although popularized a different well-known trend of protecting their military equipment with so-called "cope cages," or slat armor plates in the Syrian style. Nowadays, this kind of protection is widely seen on a wide range of vehicles used by the russian invasion forces in Ukraine.
The ARES report explains that Assad's regime had no issues with aviation for strikes against opposition forces, therefore no need for inefficient makeshift rocket artillery with UB-32s or other unguided rocket pods.
Earlier, Defense Express discussed who was the first to mount air-launched missiles on pick-ups and what was the outcome of this improvised solution.
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