The Ukrainian military has explained why, despite having a whole arsenal of weapons obtained from the West, they continue to use home-made salvo fire systems, which they have nicknamed “mini-Grads”, reports Reuters.

Their name comes from the Grad rocket launcher systems developed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s and inherited by Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR. The Russian military also still uses such launchers.

“We have a technique that we call mini-Hail. They are made of tubes taken from the Grad launchers and placed on a van, which facilitates their transportation,” a Ukrainian serviceman nicknamed Gall told Reuters in an interview with Reuters in the south of the Zaporizhzhia region.

“We are trying to make them more accurate compared to the Grad launchers. They have the same rate of fire, but with additional aiming mechanisms and a shorter distance (to the targets they attack), we are trying to make the mini-hail launchers more accurate,” he explained.

Gall, a member of the 108th Separate Area Defense Brigade, said the mini-Grad launchers are not as accurate as the advanced HIMARS systems obtained from the United States, but they have the advantage of being able to get closer to enemy lines.

“I can’t say that we hit the targets more accurately than the BM-21 launcher, but we can get closer (to the target),” he added.

Mini-Grad launchers use “exactly” 3 rockets

His comrade nicknamed “Luca” also explained that the improvised launchers have a timer to help protect the soldiers operating them. Also, they only use 3 missiles.

“Why? Because we are sure that 3 missiles will land where we need them. Shooting 10, 8 or 2 missiles at one target is quite inefficient,” explains another Ukrainian military officer, Yuriy Osokolanskyi.

“We launch exactly 3 missiles. “Soldiers can change positions, reload and continue firing at different targets,” he explains.

In turn, Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Musienko says that these improvised launchers have 3 big advantages: their mobility allows them to move quickly, the units that use them can attack the target without waiting for ammunition to be delivered from anywhere, and they can provide additional firepower power infantry units that otherwise lack heavy equipment.

A military analyst says that the development of this weapon was intended to “give an advantage to units that normally do not have this type of weapon (without missile launchers).”

Videos showing this type of improvisation used by the Ukrainian military have surfaced since last summer, but the interview given to Reuters by the Ukrainian military appears to be the first, or one of the first, to appear in international media, in which they also explain how they work

Many netizens have speculated for months that these launchers will actually have no practical use on the front line.

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