BM-30 Smerch - Variants

Variants

• 9A52-4 - Lighter, airmobile version on KamAZ-6350 truck with modular 6-round rocket pack. Demonstrated in 2007.
• 9A52-2T - Export version, based on the Tatra T816 10x10 truck.
• PHL96 - License produced Chinese version, with China negotiated the production right from Russia in 2008 after purchasing the system separately from Ukraine, Russia and Belorussia in the mid 1990s. The Chinese system is based on a Wanshan (万山, meaning ten thousand mountains) WS-2400 8 x 8 cross country truck of Wanshan series trucks manufactured by Hubei Sanjiang Space Wanshan Special Vehicle Co. Ltd (湖北三江航天万山特种车辆有限公司), a wholly owned subsidiary of China Aerospace Sanjiang Space Co. Ltd (中国航天三江集团), which in turn a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC). The advantage of Chinese vehicle is that it utilizes German diesel engine, transmission and hydraulics manufactured by Wanshan in China, after technologies transfer from ZF Friedrichshafen. The program actually begun in the late 1990's, with 96 in the designation reportedly means 1996, the year Chinese military first issued the requirement for a new long range SPMRLS, and went through major redesign changes when BM-30 Smerch was purchased. Although dubbed by many Chinese as a guided self-propelled multiple rocket launching system (SPMRLS), PHL96 is actually not really a guided SPMRLS strictly speaking, because technically, none of rockets themselves of PHL96 is guided, the guidance is actually achieved via the sub-munitions, such as the 9M55K1 cluster munition that is guided.
• PHL03 - Chinese development of PHL96. Only very limited number of PHL96 entered Chinese service because its successor PHL03, soon entered service shorter after. PHL03 is a highly digitized PHL96 with computerized fire control system (FCS), and the crew is increased to 4 from the original of 3 of BM-30/PHL96, entering service around 2004-2005, only a year or two after its predecessor PHL96. The FCS of PHL03 incorporates and GPS/GLONASS, similar to that of Type 90A SPMRL. As with its predecessor PHL96, strictly speaking, PHL03 is not exactly a guided SPMRL because like PHL96, PHL03 does not have any guided rocket, and the guidance was achieved via sub-munitions.
• AR-1 - Chinese development of PHL03. This is actually the first model in among the Chinese versions of BM-30 SPMRL that is a truly guided rocket system in that the rocket itself is guided by a simple primitive cascade inertial terminal guidance used on WS series SPMRL, which became standard for later Chinese versions. Russia had already developed a guided version of BM-30 with mid-course radio command guidance to immediately correct the error in the flight of the rocket once detected by the ballistic tracking radar, but this was not adopted due to financial constraints. Unconfirmed Chinese internet sources have claimed that when China negotiated the license production right in 2008, this guided design was also purchased, but such claims has yet to be verified by official or independent sources.
• AR-1A - Chinese development of AR-1. A 10 round version of AR-1, with 2 launching boxes each containing 5 expandable launching tubes. Once rockets are lunched, the entire launch box is replaced, instead of individually reloading each tube in earlier version, thus greatly reducing the time to reload.
• AR-2 - Chinese development of AR-1/1A manufactured by Norinco, with range increased to 130 km.
• AR-3 - Chinese development of AR-2 manufactured by Norinco, with caliber increased to 370 mm, but can also adopt 300 mm caliber as well. As with AR-1/1A/2, AR-3 adopts modular design by incorporating 2 launching boxes containing several launching tubes, with the launching boxes replaced after the launching of rockets. When using 300 mm caliber rockets, each launching box contains 5 launching tubes like earlier AR-1/1A/2, and when using 370 mm caliber rockets, each launching box contains 4 launching tubes.