Ukrainian state defense industry holding Ukroboronprom says it has successfully produced and tested a new air-to-ground rocket system designed to be carried by strike helicopters and fighter planes.
In a press release dated Feb. 11, the company provided a video showing the new rockets being fired from an Mi-8MSB helicopter fitted with an Adros electro-optical suppression module, which protects the aircraft from being targeted with Stinger, Igla or other portable air defense systems.
“The new 80-millimeter caliber rockets are designed to destroy ground targets, and have been developed for attack helicopters and aircraft using regular (B-type) rocket pods,” the state-run agency reports. “All of the rockets exited their pods and hit their designated targets. It should be noted that ripple-fire – complete unit discharge of 20 rockets – takes about half a second.”
The company also said the new weapons for the Ukrainian Air Force were designed and produced in Kyiv by the Artem holding company, which is affiliated with Ukroboronprom.
The press release provides few details about the new weapon, or its specifications, and detailed information about it will not be made public at this time, Ukroboronprom’s press service told the Kyiv Post.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko posted a video showing the testing of the new rockets on Facebook on Feb. 11, also giving few details.
However, some information could be gleaned from the video of the test. The rocket appears to be a new version of the Soviet/Russian-made S-8 rocket, produced by the Selmash enterprise in the Russian city of Kirov. These unguided rockets, developed in the 1970s, entered service with the Soviet armed forces in 1984 and are still used by Russia and a number of other countries.
The 80-millimeter caliber S-8 rockets can be fired from Mi-8 helicopters, such as the Mi-8MSB used during the tests of Ukraine’s new rocket. They are launched from B8V20-A rocket pods, which were also shown in the Ukroboronprom video.
There are as many as 15 different versions of the S-8, ranging from ones bearing anti-infantry flechettes, to armor piercing, smoke marking and bunker-busting rounds. The latest upgraded version, the S-8OFP, is 1.428 meters long, weighs less than 17 kilograms, and has a range of 6 kilometers.
According to Ukroboronprom, the new rocket has been designed to be an air-to-ground weapon. As unguided rockets, they will probably be used in infantry fire support or fire suppression, or striking targets such as trenches, fortifications, or light vehicles on the battlefield.
The fact that the rockets were fired from a helicopter protected with the Adros system, designed to foil man-portable air defense weapons, might also point to the Ukrainian designers’ intention to produce a rocket for tactical strikes against infantry, rather than better-protected armored vehicles or distant targets, against which guided missiles are more commonly used in modern warfare.
