Indian Army's Russian Smerch rocket launchers facing hitches

[RPK]

Indian Army's Russian Smerch rocket launchers facing hitches



Army has detected problems in its Russian-origin Smerch multi-barrel rocket launchers (MBRL)and complained to Moscow about it.

There are problems in the barrels of some of these rocket launchers and we have told the Russians about the issues related to firing of the system, senior Army sources told PTI here.

The Smerch rocket launchers are the latest inductions of the Indian Army after a deal was signed for their procurement in December 2005 for more than Rs 2,600 crore.

The sources said the Russians will be visiting India to look into the issue and try to rectify the problems in the system.

The issue is understood to have come up for discussion during the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation meeting between the Defence Ministers of the two countries earlier this month.

The system has had several defects in its launch vehicles, outlaying fire controls and data transmission, which led to delays in its operationalisation in the service, the sources said.

The Smerch long range rocket systems have a range of over 60 kms, almost three times the distance of the present Indian artillery rocket systems.

India had signed two deals in December 2005, and March 2007, with Russian firm Rosoboronexport for importing 42 of the MBRL systems along with launcher, transloader and command and control systems.

Smerch MBRL along with the Russian-origin Grad 122 mm rocket systems and indigenous Pinaka form the important part of the Indian Army's firepower.

 

[Markus]

Is there any Indo Russian military project in recent history that is not facing glitches ?

 

[Vibs]

Is there any Indo Russian military project in recent history that is not facing glitches ?

Ever heard of the Bramhos, Su 30MKI?

 

[newdelhinsa]

I think its issue more about poor maintenance otherwise why it took 6-4 odd years to find problem with something already inducted in inventory.

 

[Lord Of Gondor]

I think its issue more about poor maintenance otherwise why it took 6-4 odd years to find problem with something already inducted in inventory.

The deal to buy them was signed in 2005 and it was not inducted in 2005!
The article says that there are defects present in the Smerch system hence,Russian techies are coming over to sort them out ASAP.
But,WTH right?!
Damn dhoti wearing beedi smokers from the engineers' corps cannot even "maintain" a Smerch system

 

[newdelhinsa]

The deal to buy them was signed in 2005 and it was not inducted in 2005!
The article says that there are defects present in the Smerch system hence,Russian techies are coming over to sort them out ASAP.
But,WTH right?!
Damn dhoti wearing beedi smokers from the engineers' corps cannot even "maintain" a Smerch system

We all know how strenuous testing they do when procuring something and how hard procurement process is in India. I mean like they did canceled wheeled howitzer deal just few days back, they could have seen the defect in 2005. Also as far as i know these smerch are already deployed. They were comprehensively used in last two military exercises as well. May be then they were able to find some defect. Let see if they be able to troubleshoot this problem.

SMERCH is the most lethal weapon system we have till date BTW.

 

[SQ8]

Can people not be douchebags and indulge in comparisons in every thread..
next one will get an infraction.

 

[Lord Of Gondor]

We all know how strenuous testing they do when procuring something and how hard procurement process is in India. I mean like they did canceled wheeled howitzer deal just few days back, they could have seen the defect in 2005. Also as far as i know these smerch are already deployed. They were comprehensively used in last two military exercises as well. May be then they were able to find some defect. Let see if they be able to troubleshoot this problem.

SMERCH is the most lethal weapon system we have till date BTW.

Does anyone know about the testing procedures adopted by the procurement panel----------NO!
We do not even know about the parameters of the MMRCA testing!
Had anyone of us investigated the particular piece that was tested???---------------NO!
If this was not published in the media earlier,then would that mean the Smerch was perfect for 4 years and somehow the engineers screwed them up??

IA is the same force that operate Bofors guns that were inducted in the 80's,Gypsies that are 30 years old,Vijayanta's(now retired) that were 25+ years old but they've managed to screw up a 4 year old MBRL??

But agree wit your last point though

 

[WHF]

cool down guys... its a problem with only with some unit and not with smerch system as such, it must either be a maintenance issue/some minor production fault ...

 

[T90TankGuy]

any system faces problems what inducted. for example the jaguar was inducted in 78 yet was only operational in 82 . any weapon systems take time . its a process.

 

[SEAL]

Not surprised at all.

 

[Veeru]

Not surprised at all.

One liner and trolling not allowed, if ur surprised about quality then can u explain that do u expect chinese stuff better then Russian one????

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

One liner and trolling not allowed, if ur surprised about quality then can u explain that do u expect chinese stuff better then Russian one????

Yes.. 3 times more range,more accuracy.. better precision n guidence..

Also i hope u dnt quote 120 KM range for smerch.. its 60!! with production defects.

 

[Tshering22]

^^ That's the idea with Pinaka-2 here.

I just wish that Pinaka-2 comes fast. Pinaka-1 is one of the best in its category of MBRLs. It is easy to maintain, indigenous, effective and low cost. I don't understand why GOI ordered Smerch after Pinaka-2 was announced in 2008 itself, other than MOD babus getting Russian money.