Scud Ballistic Missile : Southeast Asia's Strongest

28 Desember 2019

Scud ballistic missile of Vietnamese Army (all photos : Soha)

At the 30th anniversary of the All-National Defense Day, the 75th anniversary of the Vietnam People's Army took place on December 21 in Hanoi, the first time the ballistic missile system of Vietnam was be publicly launched.

Although it has been in service for a long time, this is the first time the Scud tactical ballistic missile system of Vietnam has been publicly launched.

According to Stockhom International and Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), in 1981 Vietnam received several mobile launchers and dozens of Scud-B bullets.

R-17E is a ballistic missile of the 9K72E Elbrus export and tactical ballistic missile complex. However, normally the West still calls the same name for the whole system - the Scud ballistic missile.

R-17E rocket has a length of 11.25m, body diameter of 0.88m, weight of 5.9 tons.

The rocket is equipped with the Isayev RD-21 liquid fuel engine (fuel components include TM-185 combustion, AK-27I oxidants and TG-02 launch fuel).

Navigation system uses 3 gyroscopes to allow relative accuracy, radius of target deviation 450m.

R-17E is designed to carry an explosive warhead that usually weighs 1 ton or a 5-70 kiloton nuclear warhead, a chemical warhead.

With explosive warheads, the impact speed of 1.4km / s will create a pit of 1.5-4m deep and 12m wide.

The R-17E rocket is mounted on the 9P117 Uragan mobile launcher based on the MAZ-543 heavy-duty transport vehicle chassis.

When launched, the rocket will be erupted vertically and fired (before it takes time to refuel, launch the target parameter).

By this time, Vietnam was the first and only military in Southeast Asia to have a Scud tactical ballistic missile in service.

Also according to SIPRI, in 1998 Vietnam purchased from North Korea dozens of short-range ballistic missiles Hwasong-6 (Mars 6), this is a copy based on the Scud-C prototype.

Compared to the Scud-B, the Hwasong-6 increased its launch weight to 6,400 kg, and its range soared to 600 km.

Recently, in order to ensure Scud missile technical ability to be ready for combat, the technical units of the Vietnam Missile Brigade had many initiatives to improve the components for the missile to work well.

This number of B and C Scud missiles is considered as one of the powerful weapons of Vietnamese artillery force at present.

(Soha)