Main Missile and Artillery Directorate

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Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (GRAU)
GRAU emblem
Active1862–present
Current title from 1960
Country Russia
TypeCentral Military Authority
Part ofChief of Armament and Munition of the Russian Armed Forces
Commanders
Current
commander		Major General Nikolay Romanovsky[citation needed]

The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (Russian: Гла́вное раке́тно-артиллери́йское управле́ние Министе́рства оборо́ны Росси́йской Федера́ции (ГРАУ Миноборо́ны Росси́и), tr. Glávnoye rakétno-artilleríyskoye upravléniye Ministérstva oboróny Rossíyskoy Federátsii (GRAU Minoboróny Rossíi)), commonly referred to by its transliterated Russian acronym GRAU (ГРАУ), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the Chief of Armament and Munition of the Russian Armed Forces, a vice-minister of defense.

The organization dates back to 1862 when it was established under the name Главное артиллерийское управление (ГАУ – GAU). The "R" from "rockets" was added to the title from 19 November 1960.

In particular, the GRAU is responsible for assigning GRAU indices to

munitions and equipment
.

Arsenals (Russian: Арсенал) of the GRAU, according to

Volga–Urals Military District.[3]

A major series of explosions occurred at an arms depot of the 31st Arsenal of the Caspian Flotilla near Ulyanovsk on 13 November 2009. At least two people were killed in the explosion and 43 were rescued from a bomb shelter where they had taken refuge.[4]

There were fires and explosions at the 102nd Arsenal GRAU at Pugachevo (Malaya Purga) in Udmurtia (Volga-Urals Military District) in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2018, and two other incidents in 2011 at the 99th Arsenal in Bashkiria and at Ashuluk. There were three more fires in 2012.

On December 26, 2013, an Antonov An-12B transport aircraft of the Irkut company was flying along the route Novosibirsk - Irkutsk, but when landing, it crashed onto a warehouse of the 109th Arsenal GRAU located near the Irkutsk Northwest Airport (Siberian Military District).[5] All nine people on board were killed - six crew members and three passengers.

On 7 October 2020, a grass fire reached ammunition in open storage at

Interfaks
-AVN wrote that there were 113 warehouses and bunkers with 75,000 tons of missiles, rockets, and artillery shells (including 152-mm) at the site. A woman died from injuries and there were at least another 15 victims in stable condition; the fire and explosions "damaged 430 structures, public facilities, apartment buildings, and private homes."

As of December 2021, the Chief of the GRAU is Major General Nikolay Romanovsky.[citation needed]

On 28 June 2022 the cell "BOAK-Vladimir" published a press release claiming sabotage action on railway of Military Unit Number 55443 VD Barsovo (51st Arsenal of the GRAU) near Kirzhach in Vladimir Oblast. The rails were damaged. BOAK's press release stated, "Every stopped train helps to get rid of missiles and rockets, which could hit peaceful Ukrainian cities!"[8]

Current GRAU indices

Russian Armed Forces
Staff
Services (vid)
Independent troops (rod)
Special operations force (sof)
Other troops
Military districts
History of the Russian military

GRAU indices are of the form ⟨number⟩ ⟨letter⟩ ⟨number⟩, sometimes with a further suffix ⟨letter⟩ ⟨number⟩. They may be followed by a specially assigned codename. For example "2 S 19  Msta-S", the

2S19 Msta
self-propelled howitzer, has the index 2S19, without suffix; Msta-S is the codename.

Misconceptions

Several common misconceptions surround the scope and originating body of these indices. The GRAU designation is not an industrial designation, nor is it assigned by the design bureau. In addition to its GRAU designation, a given piece of equipment could have a design name, an industrial name and a service designation.

For example, one of the

S-25 Berkut
air defense system had at least four domestic designations:

  • design name: La-205
  • GRAU index: 5V7
  • industry name: Article 205 (Izdeliye 205)
  • Soviet military designation: V-300

Some Soviet general-purpose bombs bore a designation that looked confusingly similar to GRAU.[note 1]

Designation scheme

The first part of a GRAU index is a number indicating which of the several main categories of equipment a given item belongs to. The second part, a Cyrillic character, indicates the subcategory. The third part, a number, indicates the specific model. The optional suffix can be used to differentiate variants of the same model.

1 (Radio and electronics equipment)

2 (Artillery systems)

3 (Army and naval missiles)

4 (Naval missiles and army equipment (munitions, reactive armour, etc.))

5 (Air defense equipment)
* 51T6 (SH-11/
air defense system
*
air defense system

6 (Firearms, air defense equipment)

7 (Firearm munitions)

Exceptions
  • 71Kh6: the US-KMO Prognoz-2 early warning system satellite
  • 73N6 Baikal-1: an automated air defense command and control system
  • 75E6 Parol-3: the IFF interrogator for the S-75M and S-125
  • 76N6: a low-altitude target detector radar

8 (Army missiles and rocketry)

9 (Army missiles, UAVs)

10 (Equipment)

  • 10P: Sights (10P19, the PGO-7V sight for RPG-7V grenade launcher)
  • 10R:
    Radios
    (10R30 Karat-2, a radio transmitter)

11 (Rocketry and associated equipment)

14 (Rocketry and associated equipment)

  • 14A: Rockets (14A15, is the "Soyuz-2-1v")
  • 14D: Rocket engines (14D30, the "Briz" booster's S5.98M liquid fuel engine)
  • 14F: Satellites (14F10, the IS-MU Naryad anti-satellite weapon)
  • 14I: Ground equipment (14I02, the ground equipment for the "Briz" booster's 8P882 system)
  • 14P: Ground equipment (14P72, the service system for the "Briz" booster)
  • 14S:
    Boosters
    (14S12, the "Briz" booster)
  • 14T: Ground equipment (14T81, the storage equipment for the "Briz" booster)

15 (Strategic Missile Forces equipment)

  • 15A: Intercontinental ballistic missiles (15A14 and 15A18, the R-36M (SS-18 Satan) ICBM; 15A15, the UR-100MR (SS-17 Spanker) ICBM)
  • 15B: Warheads
  • 15D: Rocket engines (mostly)
  • 15F: Warheads
  • 15N:
    Command and control vehicles
  • 15P:
    Silo-based launchers
    (mostly)
  • 15U:
    ICBM
    ground equipment
  • 15Zh:
    RT-21M Pioneer
    (SS-20 Saber) TBM)

17 (Rocketry and associated equipment)

  • 17D: Misc. rocket engines (17D58Ae, the stabilization and orientation engine of the "Briz-M" booster)
  • 17F: Satellites (17F15 Raduga-1, a telecommunications satellite)
  • 17K: Space-based systems (17K114, a space-based reconnaissance and targeting system)
  • 17P: Ground equipment (17P31, the start system for 11K25)
  • 17S:
    Rocket stages
    (17S40, Unit D of the Proton launcher)
  • 17U: Ground equipment (17U551, the "Briz-M" booster testing system)

See also

  • Designations of Russian towed artillery
  • NATO Reporting Name

Notes

  1. ^ For example, the FAB-250sch entered service in 1944 with the designation 7-F-334, which was not assigned by GRAU.

References

  1. ^ "107th arsenal GRAU".
  2. ^ http://103arsenal.ru/istoriya
  3. ^ Kommersant 2005.
  4. ^ "Major fire at Russia arms depot". 13 November 2009.
  5. ^ Описание катастрофы на Aviation Safety Network; Катастрофа Ан-12 Корпорации Иркут в районе а/п Иркутск-2 (борт 12162), 26 декабря 2013 года.
  6. ^ "Минобороны РФ окажет помощь в ремонте жилых домов и инфраструктуры в военном городке, пострадавшем при пожаре на арсенале в Рязанской области -". www.militarynews.ru. Retrieved 2023-05-21.
  7. ^ "The Latest Arsenal Fire". Russian Defense Policy. 2020-10-13. Retrieved 2023-05-21.
  8. ^ "Sabotage action on the railway of military unit 55443 VD Barsovo (51th Arsenal of the Main rocket-artillery department of Russian Defense ministry) | Anarcho-Communists Combat Organization".

Further reading

External links

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