This 60-year-old Soviet rocket launcher fights on in Ukraine

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reliance more than the BM-21 Grad, an icon of Soviet weaponry that entered service in 1963 and shoots up to 40 unguided rockets from the back of a truck. The Grad also shows the dangers of Ukraine’s reliance on Soviet-era gear. The aging weapon is inaccurate and prone to breakdown, while the country’s supplies of Grad rockets are running low, according to analysts and some of its operators.

The Grad is widely found in Ukraine’s arsenal. The U.S. has sent Ukraine 38 Himars, modern mobile rocket launchers that have had a big impact on the battlefield.

But the country started the war with some 260 Grads, according to Janes, the defense-intelligence group, while Russia had around 500 in active service and many more in storage. While the Grad’s age brings limitations, those who operate it retain affection for a weapon they call grandma and other nicknames. They say it is still effective at saturating Russian positions.

“It is an old lady, and has all [an old person’s] problems," said Sukhilov of Ukraine’s 60th Brigade. One of the brigade’s six Grads, hidden by banks of earth and trees outside of a front-line village near the strategic city of Bakhmut, is around 60 years old. The weapon often has mechanical problems, which its crew has mainly learned to fix.

“It is better to ask what has not broken," said Sukhilov. Still, the Grad, which translates to “hail" in Russian, does important work. “In a short time we can deliver a lot of rockets to the enemy," Sukhilov said.