bm-13 katyusha

The BM-13, popularly known as the Katyusha, is a Soviet multiple rocket launcher system developed by the Reactive Scientific Research Institute in 1938. The BM-13 was developed as a mobile artillery piece capable of delivering its ordnance within a short amount of time, at the cost of longer reload times and accuracy. Due to skepticism from the artillery command regarding these shortcomings, only 40 launchers were produced by the time of Operation Barbarossa in 1941. This opinion quickly changed after the successes of the Katyusha became apparent; to compensate for the slow reload time, Katyushas launched in waves at the target before retreating to reload, allowing freshly reloaded launchers to continue the barrage. The ease of manufacture and installation meant that Katyushas could be easily mass-produced compared to conventional artillery pieces. By the end of the war, over 10,000 BM-13 launchers were produced, and over 100,000 were produced when its production ended in the 1970s.