Originally appeared at ZeroHedge
One of the leading firms in the Turkish defense industry, Roketsan, set a record with world’s largest rocket artillery, capable of launching hundreds of rockets in 2 minutes from a single military vehicle, the company announced on Saturday.
Jobaria, a Multiple Cradle Launcher (MCL), was developed by Roketsan for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has achieved legend status with Guinness World Records for the world’s largest rocket artillery in terms of the number of barrels, the company said in a statement sent to journalists.
ROKETSAN, Guinness Rekorlar Kitabı'na girdi
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ROKETSAN'ın Birleşik Arap Emirlikleri için ürettiği Jobaria Çok Kundaklı Lançer, "namlu sayısı bakımından dünyanın en büyük roket topçusu" olarak Guinness Rekorlar Kitabı'na girdi.
.#savunmasanayi #teknoloji #roketsan #donanımhaber pic.twitter.com/b2fQrejuog— DonanımHaber (@donanimhaber) August 28, 2018
The UAE requested the large rocket artillery battery on one vehicle since its military is phasing out the older, BM-21 Grads, a Soviet truck-mounted 122 mm multiple rocket launcher.
The MCL has a significant advantage over the BM-21 Grads; it replaces the use of six launcher vehicles which require a team of over 30 troops, whereas the MCL only needs a group of three to operate and launch the same number of rockets (240).
#ROKETSAN tarafından Birleşik Arap Emirlikleri için geliştirilen Jobaria Çok Kundaklı Lançer, "namlu sayısı bakımından dünyanın en büyük roket topçusu" olarak Guinness Rekorlar Kitabı'nda yerini aldı. pic.twitter.com/xYgRRtnmDv
— EHA MEDYA (@eha_medya) August 26, 2018
The system has four rocket launchers attached to the trailer each carrying sixty 122mm rockets. It can fire 240 Roketsan 122mm T-122 Sakarya rockets fitted with a high-explosive warhead at targets with a maximum range of around 37 kilometers (23 miles). All missiles can be fired in under two minutes, making the rate of fire two rounds per second. After launching the rockets, a support team can reload the missile system in about 30 minutes.
Established in 1988, Roketsan started production in 1992 under the program of the “Stinger European Joint Production Project.” In the last several decades, the firm has manufactured air defense systems, precision-guided missiles, ballistic protection solutions, and an array of turnkey land systems.
While it is still unclear why the UAE would need the world’s most massive rocket launcher, perhaps, the missile system may find a new home in the Saudi-led alliance against Yemen. There is also another possibility the country is gearing up for conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, as Washington and Tehran bicker over who controls the strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. In any case, war is coming, and the world’s largest rocket launcher will be used.
the “real launcher” launches only from 4 pods instead of 12 and the pods are significant smaller than on the “show launcher”. poor…
This one will not be accepted in Russian Army – yes, it is more expensive but having each launcher on separatre mobile platform allows for much more effective execution of much more versatile range of objectives.
Exactly what I was thinking.
Anyone can do this, we could do it also with Astros rocket launcher, but it means it would have less mobility, it would be more dangerous and a higher value target, and it actually adds nothing to it capabilities.
such little rockets! Not at all intimidating!
“…has achieved legend status with Guinness World Records…” There is nothing legendary about Guinness book. Any idiot can get there, as long as he is capable of coming up with yet another new category. When you put a lot of rocket launchers on one vehicle you end up with something that is big, slow, and has poor off-road capabilites. This thing is useful only against somebody not capable of fighting back. For anyone else it is just one big target.
If the UAE plans on using this on the Houthis, their in for a surprise. One Houthi armed with an anti-tank missile or RPG is all that is needed.
I think if building a massive, long and heavy rocket launcher was good or even remotely feasible, the Soviet army would absolutely build it. They built all manners of enormous military vehicles and weapons, some of them extremely weird like the Tzar tank (granted, it’s not soviet build but you know what I mean) some were just awesome, like Energia LV, Buran, AK-47 (and almost all Kalashnikov products), suppressed Nagant revolver, Mig-29, T-72 tank and many, many more. They created Katyusha for crying outloud.
Re this contraption they buyers are just being Arabs and the builders are being Turks. I guess when your mercenaries run away, having just 3 desert their ranks is much better than 30. Houthis will also thank them, they need to fire just one ATGM or RPG instead of 10! :D
It looks to me like the UAE has paid off the Sultan and the “weapon” will gather dust.