Valkiri – Wikipedia

The Valkiri It is a South African multiple rogue (Mrl), conceived with rather particular criteria for the best operational performance in the expected theaters of employment.

To counteract the long-range BM-21, the South Africans began in 1977 to develop a weapon capable of overcoming their overall skills, in particular the maximum range, as well as highly mobile and effective species against relatively slightly solid, but dispersed objectives areas. Given the long range of Soviet artillery, at the same time the G-5 cannon of 30 km of range was also developed.

The new Mrl system (multiple launchers) was ready in 1981, and was widely used later.

It consists of just 24 127 mm rocket launching pipes (so it has given up on the intercambleability with the BM-21 ammunition), placed on a Samil 20 4×4 truck of 2200 kg of load capacity. In practice, these are the widespread German truck with UNIMOG high mobility, a license produced.

Samil 20 features:

• Traction: 4×4
• Weight: maximum 6400 kg
• Length: 5.35 m
• Width: 2.3 m
• Height: 2.32 m
• Speed: 90 km/h
• Autonomy: 400 km
• Crew: 2

The launching pad consists in practice by the body, which can be elevated via hydraulic ramp, which when it is not in use is covered with a normal canvas structure, so as to make the vehicle almost indistinguishable by a normal truck. This ingenious solution obviously suffers from real war experiences, in which lights can often determine the outcome of clashes: one account are an unofficial convoy of refueling trucks, another one from Valley.

The samils ​​are equipped with high mobility and speed, they are small and fast so as to hit and disappear. They come into action in 5 minutes from the stop, and can come out after 1, avoiding being affected by the action of the counterbastian.

The rockets, placed in 24 launch pipes on the bottom of the cassone, have as said a caliber of 127 mm (5 inches) and have a minimum range of 8 km and maximum of 22, 1, 5 greater than the BM-21. The length of the rocket is 2, 68 m and the head is mainly shrapnel , with 3500 steel spheres capable of covering an area of ​​1500 square meters per rocket, equal to a radius of about 25 m.

The refueling, with a charging executable in 10 minutes, is possible thanks to a 5 -toned average truck, equipped with 48 rockets.

• Valkiri-22 (original version): the original model, armed with 24 launch pipes
• Valkiri-40 (current version): In this case, the launchers have 40 launching pipes, fully exploiting the skills of the vehicle in terms of load, and renouncing the discretion that it was one of the reasons for the original Valkiri. In addition, it seems that the rockets have been updated with more powerful propellers and, following a trend established in recent years, capable of reaching major gitters, of the order of 36 km.

The Valkiri were placed on duty in the units of the South African army in the 1980s, and participated in several events of arms, especially in 1986-87, inflicting hard losses to the Angolane and Cuban forces, given the ability to hit quickly with A save capable of saturating 36,000 m ² of land in about 20 seconds of time.

This new system, which appeared in the early 90s, is a much heavier and more powerful type, while sharing the same rockets, a bit like the RM-70 towards the BM-21.

It is a system based on a 10 -ton Samil 100 truck, 6×6. It has a high shape and in general much less ‘discrete’ characteristics than the other vehicle. The cabin, on the other hand, is slightly battles, hosts 5 crew men, who are also protected against anti -tank mines. Despite the largest mass, it manages to be even more mobile than Valkiri, especially for the most powerful engine and for the 6 -wheel drive. Its dimensions, which as mentioned, do not easily allow him to go unnoticed, however allow him supplies for 14 days, while on the road he has a maximum speed of 88 km/h (2 less than Valkiri) for an autonomy of 800 ( twice).

In terms of armament, the Bataleur has the usual 127mm rockets despite being the hull perfectly capable (as happens, for example, with astros, also based on a 10 t.) To bring larger to it . The number has increased to 40, while the mass remains 60 kg. The shooting cadence is possible with 1 shot per second, through remote controls or inside the shooting control unit. The newspapers contain 8500 steel spheres plus the explosive. Once again, therefore, there is as a priority the antipersonal effect, with the terrible consequences that can be easily imagined, of the expansion of the ‘cloud’ of pallets. The newspaper detracts to the impact, but to make it even more dangerous there is also a dirt of proximity to make it burst at altitude, making the effect of fragmentation exclusively with respect to the explosive charge. The dispersion, at a distance of 22,000 m, consists of a value of 200 m in the direction and 290 in length. These data concern the original rockets, but also for the Bataleur, those with prolonged range were then used, probably also loaded with countercarro submunitations, even if the times of the war with the nearby nations are now over.

The Bataleur is one of the heaviest and most powerful launchers systems in the category, and among its peculiarities it has the interchangeability of the launchers: if a medium is put out of use, the rocket launcher can be mounted on another in about 4 hours of time.