After we last showed you a video of the Russian 2S7 Pion, the world’s heaviest artillery piece, today we take another look to the east, specifically at the TOS-1A Solnzepjok (Solnzepjok = solar heat) armored multiple rocket launcher.
The basic features of the vehicle are based on the TOS-1 Buratino system developed in the early 1980s and introduced by the Russian armed forces, which was built on the chassis of a T-72 main battle tank and whose launcher container could fire up to 24 rockets weighing around 170 kilograms at intervals of around seven seconds at targets up to 3.5 kilometers away.
The launcher container of the successor TOS-1A Solnzepjok, which was introduced in 2001, also holds 24 missiles and is mounted on the hull of a T-90. With its improved MO.1.01.04M missiles, it can engage targets at a distance of up to six kilometers at a faster rate of fire.
The TOS-1 Buratino system was used for the first time in the 1980s during the Soviet-Afghan war and was also used to fire at large minefields during the war in Chechnya. Export customers for the TOS-1A include Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Iraq.
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