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Czechoslovakian-made RM-70 multiple rocket launcher donated by the Czech Republic to Kiev forces have been spotted in the Donbass region for the first time.
On May 12, Ukrainian sources shared footage showing a single RM-70 launcher moving near an unspecified front in Donbass.
The RM-70 is an armored version of the Soviet BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher made in Dubnica nad Váhom in the 1970s. The launcher replaced the Ural-375D 6×6 truck by a Tatra T813 “Kolos” 8×8 truck as carrier platform. However, it is equipped with the same 40-round 122 mm launcher as the BM-21 launcher.
The launcher can fire Soviet-made 9M22 and 9M28 rockets, or locally developed models, like the JROF with a range of 20.75 kilometers, the JROF-K with a range of 11 kilometers, the Trnovnik with 63 anti-tank bomblets and a range of 17.5 kilometers, the Kuš with five PPMI-S1 anti-personnel mines or the Krizhna-R with four PTMI-D anti-tank mines and a range of 19.45 kilometers.
Just like the BM-21, the RM-70 was designed for concentrated fire coverage of large areas, up to 30,000 square meters, in one volley.
The Czech Republic pledged to supply Kiev forces with loads of weapons, including more than 20 RM-70 launchers, after the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine. Other heavy weapons to be supplied by the Czech Republic include 152 mm SpGH DANA self-propelled howitzers, T-72 battle tanks and BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles.
Kiev’s backers have been dumping their old weapons stockpiles, which offer no new capabilities, in Ukraine on the hopes of prolonging the war to drain the Russian military.
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