2016/09/09

Dominator M2/12 MRL

.
DOMINATOR M2/12 multi-calibre modular trailer-mounted multiple launch rocket system (122 mm)

262 mm version

A salvo of 240 122 mm rockets fired within 30 seconds at up to 40 km range (unguided).
Alternatively, 16 262 mm rockets fired within 16 seconds with a range of 65 km range (unguided).

Imagine this being a project of the U.S.Army - the internet would go nuts about it, debating how awesome this is.

Instead, it's a Serbian MRL design and (even) I didn't really notice it until recently. It's been published in 2013, though.

This is one possible answer to the question what to do with tank transporter semi trailers once your tank battalions have been deployed in theatre. So far I always thought that those that can be spared from hauling disabled vehicles to repair shops or the industry could haul bulk supplies such as fuel or ammo instead.
A single MRL with the firepower of six normal calibre (not MLRS) MRLs is an interesting concept as well. It's kind of obscene in its own way.

edit August 2017:

Jobaria monster MRL from UAE

S O

.

10 comments:

  1. There is also this from the UAE:

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobaria_Defense_Systems_Multiple_Cradle_Launcher

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OK, I missed that one entirely, but quickly found this:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8fC7bxDYnA
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QASHcMxCFiQ
      http://defense-update.com/20130513_massive-rocket-launched-for-the-uae.html
      It's also from 2013. The similarity is so striking, the Dominator design may be a Serbianised version or the other way around or both are versions of the same ancestor design.

      Reloading these things is likely painfully slow if one has no automated loading vehicle (or two), but save for the reload process this looks seriously personnel-efficient. It could still greatly reduce the need for personnel with partially automated reloading and at the same time deliver unfathomable area fires.

      Imagine 240 HE or thermobaric warhead rockets fired against a village...or a battery of six firing 1,440 rockets into a town.
      That's about the equivalent of massing three mechanised divisions worth of SPGs in the first 30 seconds.

      There's truly no need for tactical nukes in land warfare any more.

      Delete
  2. Slow reload is not always a huge issue if you shoot and scoot or can fire in tandem with other units.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It´s one of these decisions:
    Will you go for one system with many barrels or for many independent ones.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Quite honestly, this is a perfect solution for regimes that relies on hired help to man their complex weapons systems.
    A more or less modern democracy should have the possibility to crew smaller more agile platforms, that can have at least a minimum of terrain crossing capability. A fully laden tank Transporter can not hide anywhere or manoeuvre trough smaller villages. A 8x8 lorry of can easily drive of a road onto a field and again up on the road again if there should be a “JDAM UXO” on the road, try that with the Jobaria.
    IMO, the Thunderbolt 2000 is the closest to a perfect solution, as a baseline system*, with the munitions flexibilities of The Israeli Lynx, one could deliver everything from something like a Grad to ATACMS or cruse missiles.
    From there on it would be a short step to use the same sett up for air defence platforms such as NASAMS. A few hardware upgrades and the correct software for the fire computer.

    The spare tank transporters may carry pallets of reloads for the Thunderbolt to pick up and fire, and at the same time be able to go back to transporting tanks as soon as the battle is over. No use to keep a BG at the same location for longer than needed.
    *Although the crane they use could be of a more modern variety…

    ReplyDelete
  5. Interesting to see an old idea getting taken to a new level. I don't agree that a BM-21 Grad or this Dominator are mutually exclusive. In WWI the Livens Projector vastly increased the ability to 'project' HE or chemicals at time x or x-n. The same goes for the WWII evolutions in motorized form of Nebelwerfer and BM-13, the naval throwers and those simple ground-frames. The whole is greater then the sums of all parts.

    In general the longer-ranged assets don't need to be as mobile as the shorter-ranged ones. Semi-trailers for tank transport certainly can't keep up with a BM-21 but they offer plenty of space and tonnage. From fairly deep positions bulky 227mm rockets like the GMLRS or GLSDB (ground-launched small diameter bomb) can cover a vast, deep area and be supplied more easily with the standard vehicle or a better another adopted semi-trailer. Needless to add that it would be an asset above a brigade or division.

    A semi-trailer with the classic 122mm could still make perfect sense as the launch unit itself should be fairly cheap. It's primary use would obviously be a devastating, massed concentration against all sorts of important targets. Part of the burden for such operations would be shifted efficiently from the 'normal' MRL or tube artillery.


    Firn

    ReplyDelete
  6. To make a rather far-fetched comparision without taking into account the other improvements, one Dominator is able to put in one salvo roughly as much HE in the air as a light Werfer regiment of WWII - and throws it five times further.

    Firn

    ReplyDelete
  7. UAE Jobaria developed by Turkish Roketsan; including 122mm/300mm rockets.

    Jobaria is purely defensive weapon to protect some areas against any Iranian attack

    ReplyDelete
  8. After the SDB project was launched, so to speak, the question arose why not try the same principle with a (far) heavier bomb? Maybe a schweres Wurfgeraet reloaded with JDAM and possibly wings?

    The current ground-launched project with the SDB I has a clearly the broader utility. It seems likely that the competitors will try a similar thing with the SDB II...

    Firn

    ReplyDelete
  9. A Kosova-like JDAM launcher could fill in as a western answer to TOS-1, IF it can do so cheaper than a GMLRS rocket.

    http://www.yugoimport.com/en/proizvodi/kosava-whirlwind-truck-mounted-launcher-rocket-assisted-aerial-bombs

    IMO, the semitrailer launcher is a single use vehicle, the controls and hardware prevents other uses within economic boundaries.

    One truck-platform to rule them all!

    ReplyDelete