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Smerch: an heir to Katyusha 22:38 | 06/ 09/ 2006 MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator Viktor Litovkin) - Multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRSs) stand out among the weapons and military equipment produced by the Russian defense industry. The 300mm Smerch, which is sometimes called an heir to the Katyusha, is the most powerful of them all, and this is not some journalistic exaggeration. Russia has pioneered these launchers. The first patent, numbered 3603 and dated April 9, 1939, for "The Mechanized Unit for Firing Rocket Projectiles of Different Calibers" was granted to Soviet inventors Andrei Kostikov, Ivan Gvai and Vasily Aborenkov....

One of the nastier weapons in the Russian arsenal is getting an unmanned spotter. According to C4ISR Journal, the Smerch multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) can now be stuffed with a drone that spots a target 90 kilometers away in just four minutes. The 92-pound unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, is fired in one of the Smerch's 300 mm rockets. Once it gets to its target, it can loiter for about a half-hour at an altitude of 600 to 1800 feet.