Main Missile and Artillery Directorate explained

Unit Name:Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (GRAU)
Dates:1862–present
Current title from 1960
Type:Central Military Authority
Command Structure:Chief of Armament and Munition of the Russian Armed Forces
Commander1:Major General Nikolay Romanovsky

The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to by its transliterated Russian acronym GRAU, 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 Russian army munitions and equipment.

Arsenals (Russian: Арсенал) of the GRAU, according to Kommersant-Vlast in 2005, include the 53rd at Dzerzhinsk, Nizhniy Novogorod Oblast, the 55th in the Sklad-40 microraion at Rzhev, the 60th at Kaluga, the 63rd at Lipetsk, the 75th at Serpukhov south of Moscow, and the 97th at Skolin (all five in the Moscow Military District). An additional possibly disused arsenal in MMD is the 107th at Toropets.[1] The 5th at Alatyr, Chuvash Republic, the 80th Arsenal at Gagarskiy, the 103rd Arsenal at Saransk, Mordovia,[2] and the 116th at Krasno-Oktyabrskiy were all in the Volga–Urals Military District.

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.[3]

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).[4] 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 Military Unit Number 55443 (once maybe the GRAU's 97th Arsenal) near Zheltukhino in Skopinsky District, Ryazan Oblast, igniting munitions.[5] [6] Whether GRAU or the Western Military District was responsible for the depot was not clear. 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.

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!"[7]

Current GRAU indices

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 surface-to-air missiles in the S-25 Berkut air defense system had at least four domestic designations:

Some Soviet general-purpose bombs bore a designation that looked confusingly similar to GRAU.[8]

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/ABM-4 Gorgone), an exoatmospheric anti-ballistic missile interceptor for the A-135 air defense system

* 53T6 (SH-08/ABM-3 Gazelle), an endoatmospheric interceptor for A-135 air defense system

6 (Firearms, air defense equipment)

7 (Firearm munitions)

Exceptions

8 (Army missiles and rocketry)

9 (Army missiles, UAVs)

10 (Equipment)

11 (Rocketry and associated equipment)

14 (Rocketry and associated equipment)

15 (Strategic Missile Forces equipment)

17 (Rocketry and associated equipment)

See also

References

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 107th arsenal GRAU .
  2. Web site: История . 21 May 2018 .
  3. News: Major fire at Russia arms depot . 13 November 2009 .
  4. https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20131226-0 Описание катастрофы на Aviation Safety Network
  5. Web site: Минобороны РФ окажет помощь в ремонте жилых домов и инфраструктуры в военном городке, пострадавшем при пожаре на арсенале в Рязанской области - . 2023-05-21 . www.militarynews.ru.
  6. Web site: 2020-10-13 . The Latest Arsenal Fire . 2023-05-21 . Russian Defense Policy . en.
  7. Web site: 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.
  8. For example, the FAB-250sch entered service in 1944 with the designation 7-F-334, which was not assigned by GRAU.

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