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9K52 Luna-M
FROG-7B (Luna M)
9P113 TEL with 9M21 rocket
Type Artillery rocket
Place of origin Soviet Union Soviet Union
Service history
In service 1964 – present
Production history
Variants 9M21B (nuclear) , 9M21F (HE) and 9M21G (chemical) , Laith-90
Specifications (9M21B)
Mass 2.5-2.8 short tons
Length 30 ft (9.1 m)
Diameter 1.8 ft (0.55 m)
Crew 4

Maximum firing range 70 km (43 mi)
Warhead High explosive, chemical, nuclear
Warhead weight 550 kg (1,210 lb)

Maximum speed 3 Mach
Launch
platform
8 x 8 ZIL-135 missile launcher

The 9K52 Luna-M (Russian: Луна; English: moon) is a Soviet short-range artillery rocket system. The 9M21 missiles are unguided and spin-stabilized. "9K52" is its GRAU designation. Its NATO reporting name is FROG-7. "FROG" is an acronym for "Free Rocket Over Ground".

The 9M21 rockets are mounted on a wheeled 9P113 transporter erector launcher (TEL) based on the ZIL-135 8x8 army truck. The TEL features a large hydraulic crane used for reloading rockets from 9T29 transporters (also ZIL-135 based). The 9M21 has a range up to 70 km and a CEP (circular error probable) between 500 m and 700 m. The road mobile rocket has a 550 kg warhead and is capable of delivering high explosive, nuclear, or chemical warheads. Six units of the initial version of 9M21 were present and ready to fire in Cuba during the missiles crisis in October 1962 with the presence of already installed nuclear warheads on them, with a total of 70 warheads already stockpiled also in the island, and the Luna was later extensively deployed throughout Soviet satellite states. The rocket has been widely exported and is now in the possession of a large number of countries. After the war with Iran, Iraq modified its stock of 9M21s by extending their range to 90 km and fitting a submunition-carrying warhead. The rocket was renamed Laith-90.[1]

During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, in the Battle of the Karbala Gap, the Headquarters of the 2nd Brigade, US 3rd Infantry Division, Tactical Operations Center (TOC) of U.S Col. David Perkins was targeted and struck by an Iraqi FROG-7 rocket or an Ababil-100 SSM missile, killing three soldiers and two embedded journalists. Another 14 soldiers were injured, and 22 vehicles destroyed or seriously damaged, most of them unarmored Humvees.[2]

RAF jets targeted and destroyed FROG-7 launchers operated by Pro-Gaddafi forces south of Sirte in the 2011 Libyan civil war.[3]

Luna m frog 7 hameenlinna 4

9M21 missile (Luna M)

9T29 Luna-M transporter

9T29 transporter carrying a 9M21 missile for a 9K52 Luna-M missile complex in Saint Petersburg Artillery museum

Luna m frog 7 hameenlinna 2

East German 9P113 TEL

Luna m frog 7 hameenlinna 3

9P113 TEL of the 9K52 system

Variants[]

9M21B
Nuclear-armed variant, fitted with a 500 kg (1,213-lb) warhead.
9M21G
This variant is fitted with a 390 kg (860-lb) warhead.
Laith-90
Iraqi version with increased range (90 km) and submunition warhead.

Operators[]

Current[4][]

  • Flag of Afghanistan Afghanistan
  • Flag of Belarus Belarus - Some (36 units of 9K52 and Tochka)
  • Flag of Cuba Cuba - 65
  • Flag of Egypt Egypt - 288 units
  • Flag of Libya Libya - 45
  • Flag of North Korea North Korea - Some (24 units of 9K52 and 2K6 Luna)
  • Flag of Russia Russia - Some in storage
  • Flag of Syria Syria - 18
  • Flag of Ukraine Ukraine - 50
  • Flag of Yemen Yemen - 12

Former[]

  • Flag of Bulgaria Bulgaria
  • Flag of Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
  • Flag of East Germany East Germany
  • Flag of Iraq Iraq
  • Flag of Kuwait Kuwait (Captured by Iraqi forces during the Gulf War)
  • Flag of Poland Poland
  • Flag of Romania Romania
  • Flag of South Yemen South Yemen
  • Flag of the Soviet Union Soviet Union
  • Flag of SFR Yugoslavia Yugoslavia

References[]

  1. Cordesman, Anthony: Iraq and the War of Sanctions. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999. Page 453. ISBN 027596528
  2. http://www.toledoblade.com/World/2003/05/11/Engineers-quietly-do-job-face-deadly-missile-strike.html
  3. UK MOD Operation Ellamy from Global Security website, 9 May 2011
  4. Military balance 2010

External links[]

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at 9K52 Luna-M and the edit history here.
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