Large unit in south Russia fully rearmed with Tornado-S MLRS.

A large Southern Military District rocket unit stationed in the Astrakhan Region in south Russia has been fully rearmed with advanced Tornado-S multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS).

Tornado-S MLRS (Picture source: Russian MoD)

In April 2019, crews operating Tornado-S MLRS performed the first launches during a tactical exercise at the Kapustin Yar training range in south Russia. "The tactical exercise engaged more than 1,000 servicemen and over 100 items of military hardware, including fighting and transporter-loader vehicles of the Tornado-S MLRS," the press office said. "At the end of the 2019 training session, one of the large unit’s formations was granted the shock force title. The Southern Military District’s rocket large unit had been formed in late 2018," the press office added. In all, Southern Military District units received more than 1,200 items of military hardware in 2019.

Tornado-S is the most powerful and long-range MLRS in the world. Each unit comprises 12 launchers that can fire a salvo or single missiles. Open sources said the firing range is 120 km and can be increased up to 200 km. Tornado-S considerably accelerates the missions. It needs several minutes to fire the whole round of munitions and one minute to abandon the firing position and escape a retaliation strike.

The new MLRS is a robotic weapon. Upon receiving target coordinates, the control system calculates the flight mission and the necessary number of missiles to destroy the objects. The MLRS then aims the launcher without crew interference. The operator has only to press the button and wait for the striking result.

All Russian MLRS are highly mobile. Tornado-S is carried by an all-terrain undercarriage and can quickly drive cross-country and on any soil. Its fuel distance is over 500 km, expert Alexey Khlopotov said: "Tornado-S is distinguished by a long range and a big destruction territory. It is a fully automatic weapon with new precision munitions of a bigger range. They have homing warheads. The power is comparable to Tochka-U missiles. However, Tochka-U can fire one missile while Tornado-S a salvo.

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