Why Does Russia Still Deploy This Unarmored BM-21 Grad Rocket System on to Ukraine

When you think about battlefield weapons, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Is it high-tech precision or state-of-the-art equipment used by modern armies? This time, the BM-21 Grad, a Soviet-era rocket system, has taken the spotlight. In an era dominated by advanced weaponry and high-tech military gear, it's intriguing that this old-fashioned rocket system still plays a significant role. Surprisingly, Russia, known for its vast stockpile of nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, and strategic bombers, continues to rely on the outdated BM-21 Grad artillery. But why does Russia persist in using this seemingly outdated weapon? Are they running out of modern weapons? or is there more to it than we might think? Stay tuned to find out the answers to these questions!
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[@KapitanPoop]

Ask a soldier whose been under a Grad barrage if it’s outdated…

[@jarrodwilson2382]

Can't find any😮

[@user-ee7bz3ip2b]

If he's still alive, probably not that great

[@antoniotucci2614]

They are d'ingresso veri well

[@liansimte2371]

😂😂😂😂

[@QuenzaDuvalier509]

😅😅😅😅😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😅😅😅😂😂

[@qsfrankfurt9513]

Because it's reliable, effective and hardy. It gets the job done and isn't complicated.

[@shinji1264]

Seriously if that thing had a guidance system it would be the best piece of equipment on the field

[@enhancedutility266]

​@@shinji1264I've heard the newer version of this weapon system is supposed to have a guidance system I believe it's called the tornado s

[@Flo-gb1fk]

Maybe it's Hardy but that doesn't make up for technological disadvantages compared to newer tech

[@franciscoberber563]

Just like everything that Russia makes ,sofisticared,simple and easy to used😅😅

[@D-E-S_8559]

@@Flo-gb1fk You people think finicky to experimental technology is everything in war, until when you come across the REAL environs of a battlefield; trenches, foxholes and tunnels and then your tech can't save you... Grads are battlefield tactical implements---they are NOT meant to be strategic, even they may tactically support a cohesive strategy....

[@SegzWithTedCruz]

If it works, it ain’t stupid. People act like everything needs to be 5 million dollars per salvo to be ‘good’. This does the job it intends to do and at a fraction of the price the west would spend on a system like this. This is meant for war, not for showing off and business

[@brianmurray1395]

That’s why they are winning over all this hight tech failure of the west.

[@user-uy8wx4pk4h]

"People act like everything needs to be 5 million dollars per salvo to be ‘good’." Well the purpose of the American military-industrial complex is to spend as much money as possible so in that context yes the more expensive the warhead the better

[@D-E-S_8559]

You've analysed the BM-21 from very basic and meaningless points, that it's almost childish----Firstly, the Grads primary objectives as a weapon system is wide groundfire SATURATION aka flame thrower. The grads best defense is it's mobility to shoot and scoot like a typical technical. It's advantage is it's tactical efficiency and utility cost effectiveness...

[@maksimsmelchak7433]

That's seems like a fair evaluation.

[@terefefeyssa877]

His analysis is based on political objectives being told by His masters. That is why He is repeating things.

[@14k46]

lol@@terefefeyssa877

[@antoniotucci2614]

Corrects

[@epoxy1710]

It's very simple, Grad has an extremely low build cost, it's reliable and Russia has thousands of them. It also do its job without any problems, the reload time doesn't matter since most of them drives away when empty or replaced with a other Grad. Russia isn't low on anything, everyone who can read Russian know Russia wants to use up their old equipment before using modern equipments.

[@pietskiet42-_]

They must have millions of these rockets in storage...including the air to grounds..?

[@epoxy1710]

@@pietskiet42-_ As I know Russia has built more than 150.000 BM-21 Grad, I see no reason that Russia has not produced enough artillery shells to support the amount of Grads build. If I'm not mistaken, I believe the millions of artillery shells North Korea has are designed to be used in Grads.

[@iam_joshua_bcxvii]

Exactly my thought too. This things doesn't seem to need computers too at best. So it must be cheap to fire each missile and hard to intercept too due to the volume at which they could be fired at.

[@matovicmmilan]

@@iam_joshua_bcxvii If you find out that your enemy has some units 10-20km in front, especially if these happen to be large units, the Grad is an ideal weapon.

[@adambussert3383]

Seems like they want to use up their older citizens as well? Old weapons are one thing, a quarter million people is a totally different thing. Machines can be replaced, individual lives can’t be replaced

[@jadecraig9830]

To think that Russia is lacking of Ammos is a real stupid idea !

[@alejmonzon]

In a specific combat scenario even a stone is not something outdatted when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. A stone can be the most modern thing in those circumstances.

[@shinji1264]

Alot of ppl dont know a rock can br classified as technology, if you find yourself stranded in the wild you'll soon figure that out

[@alejmonzon]

@@shinji1264 If a person doesn't know that a rock is technology in the right hands, well, maybe his super-tech world turned him into a digital zombie. One rock was enough for me to push back a group of thugs in an urban environment. Any technology is only useful because of the tactics to use it and the strategy that designed its way of using it. You just have to see The Down of Men in the 2001 movie A Space Odyssey. A stone or a bone made the difference in creating civilization. The Russians use what they have strategically and cost-effectively while the West bled financially in Ukraine. They have large arsenals of Soviet weapons that do not cost them a kopec to use and my stone by the way cost 0

[@genem895]

You mean "Russian shovel" Sometimes, shovels have hypersonic speed.

[@milanradovanovic3693]

​@@genem895Just keep laughing at someone's tech capabilities... US wont have its own hypersonic before 2028 and reports of failed test just keep coming

[@ToTheNines87368]

I don’t know if reloading is that much of a weakness. The grad like its high tech counter parts is unlikely to sit still after firing it’s payload. That’s what the wheels on the vehicle is for.

[@agnescane4058]

It's not your problem anymore it's russia's. Russia used all the weapons that canbe of used. but they have all the high tech weapons that they will use if they wsnt to. So don't worry and its not your obligation to worry..understood?

[@amazeus1980]

Would you get rid of the best weapons at the beginning of a war? No one does that and everyone saves the best for later…

[@wedihayet9702]

BM21 Grad is old but works great.

[@brianmurray1395]

Russia has been producing at 24/7 tanks rockets rifles kit everything you can think of.they will never run out!

[@philchristmas4071]

That's why they had to beg Iran and North Korea for more weapons.😅

[@sergey3482]

​@@philchristmas4071 Beg? Lol, we bought these weapons or exchanged them for something that we have (weapons/technologies/ natural resources) Only Zelensky is running around Western countries begging for supplies

[@brianmurray1395]

That’s a strategic move to take the war at the rate it does to Ukraine while their production goes up. It’s a leapfrog

[@jawa011]

Its not outdated if it does the job... "Era dominated by modern weapons" - which everyone lacks off.

[@jarednovel]

As long as it does the Job..Many US planes including the U2 Spy plane and B52 bombers have existed since the 1950s ..America uses many weapons that have been around since second war as well

[@Eoj999]

I seen pOv footage of soldiers on the receiving end of grad rockets in both Ukraine & Ngorno Karabakh wars. Still effective for saturation of enemy positions.

[@2104mikey]

Quantity is quality on its own.

[@peterphilipson2589]

There is no need to discard some equipment because it's old. If it gets the job done, it's not outdated. Simple, cheap and if it work it works, no further question needed.

[@tonyhardy8097]

It's still a great weapon system, cheap to produce and cheap ammo. Very versatile and agile, can reload fast and rain rockets down anywhere and then move quickly to new area and fire again

[@bigtoad45]

The answer is that it just works well.

[@gezalesko3813]

unit price is simply negligible (probably less than 1/10th) to himars and 2-3 full salvos makes up one single himars rocket's price... so a fully loaded himars will give you more than 10 grads with two full salvos each... it does not have to be accurate...

[@homegbafe8558]

A salvo of 10-20 GRAD rockets will cover about 3-5 football fields, one HiMARS missile CANNOT do that. In the open STEPPES, where trench warfare is the most logical and best choice, the GRAD Rocket System is the best and most efficient; the HiMARS is useless against well spread-out trench networks.

[@nosku11]

Grad platform, minus the ammo is roughly $12.5k. Price of a Land Cruiser

[@azerovc]

A country with a budget constrains... Just wait until the USD crashes...

[@tihlsteinig2465]

Simple, because good enough to get the job done!!! Not 3 minutes, 30 seconds! I know that, my unit used them to back in the days.

[@inquizative44]

I think they used it from the very beginning because it's effective. If it ain't broke, you don't fix it! The effectiveness shows in the extraordinary numbers of Ukrainian's KIA and casualties. Russia said in the beginning, this is a meat grinder. Unfortunately it's been extraordinarily deadly.

[@olumomosi]

A simple guidance system will make this grad a formidable battlefield weapon

[@DutchTulipStonks]

Because it's cool, effective, scary and cheap

[@waynewilson8714]

The key for any artillery is moving to a new position immediately after launching. This vehicle surpasses the slow moving but armored Toss 1 and 1a.

[@user-uy8wx4pk4h]

"Why does America still deploy this 100 year old M2 machine gun?" "Why does America still deploy this 75 year old B-52 bomber?

[@dragosgrigore138]

Because it can rain hell on enemy combatants and is cheap

[@scorpiono23rd]

They use it because it's simple and effective for that type of battlefield and it works and they use it for the same reason the West gave Ukraine all their OLD weapons platform to make room for all the new 5th generation weapons they're producing🤷🏾‍♂️

[@ivaniniguez2553]

This outdated product is causing more damage than himars lol

[@user-je2kk1uh6r]

The population of Russia is 146 million people. And the population of Ukraine is less than 25 million people. The difference in population is 6 times. And even if we assume that one-to-one losses occur in the war, then for Ukraine these losses are six times more catastrophic than for Russia. This is pure mathematics without any impurities

[@hermanjohnson9180]

This weapon system is pretty old now but all of this was news to me. Very interesting

[@user-cm1uu6zq3k]

Ака74, тоже старый. Как сказал терминатор, старый не значит бесполезный 😁🤷

[@hushpuppykl]

Huge stockpile, relatively very cheap, saturation , psychological effect … why not?

[@pmue437]

those Weapons may be a bit slower a few more manual jobs - but all Soldiers know how to handle it. The Teams with more modern tools work at different region. First the Grad Rockets fly up to 37:km. The most Types 13 to 23 km. there are at least 2 Mio Rockets available. Its wrong there is at least one Rockets with Glonass und GPS support. Calculation is trained and easy for most of the Guys. Some may have Watches calculation based on Sound.

[@kameraldbahrul3432]

Tornado G have maximum range 40 km

[@jarednovel]

The suitability of weapons systems to carry out specific tasks determines the decision to deploy them in battle. I do not see why Russia should not use something just because it has been around for too many decades...U2spy planes are still in operation as well as B52 bomber..B52 has been around since the 50s

[@mikezyto3063]

is the Browning 50 cal outdated?NO, new pricy overengineered weapons does not deem old armament to be less effective than previous

[@adambussert3383]

Use what you got . It’s that simple

[@user-uy8wx4pk4h]

America bought the stryker which cost $4.9M each lmao. A lightly armored truck that can't go off-road and can't fight in the line for 5 million bucks

[@alifirat7427]

Old but Gold Easy maintenance, low cost and is still working ? Yes, so no problem.

[@jmuhairwa2566]

It ain't stupid if it works, period

[@HS-vr7cq]

They are randomly shooting anywhere. No precision strike.

[@YankeeVatnik1917]

Have you ever seen an m113? Its a rocket system guy. They blow up when they land and enemy dies

[@ropshimopshi5709]

It’s an artillery piece. That’s why. Funny how heavy machine guns can smash through any military truck no matter what country.

[@PortmanRd]

If it ain't broke, don't try and fix it. Does what it says on the packaging.

[@andyyin1100]

It is good to make use of the old weapons while the enemy has no resource to fight plus they are cheap.

[@snassass478]

This is a military strategy I dont think US will know😅

[@BigStou]

Five batteries can blanket an area the size of Madison Park, destroying anything in its path.

[@alitatunertc1775]

Cheap and abundant is the key in the war of attrition

[@bloodrave9578]

It's simple and still gets the job done, it's cheap and easy to produce, maintain and operate.

[@arnaudlegoff430]

Bonne question.... le TornadoG serait tellement plus efficace! En plus la portee passe de 20 a 40kms et on sait que les serbes ont des grad 122mm qui vont a 57 ou 58kms. Une portee doublée place l equipage en securité puisque 20kms c est souvent a 10-15kms du front donc a la fois a portee de mortier, d aetillerie et maintenant les drones FPV russes vont jusqu a 10kms. La roquette est pas chere 2000€ mais a 20kms la precision n est pas la meme qu a 10kms et contre une armee equipée les artilleurs sont des kamikazes surtout qu il n a pas glonass pr se situer il faut faire ensuite les calculs... pire alors qu un grand nombre de tornadoG commencaient a remplacer le grd on pouvait esperer que la perte de centaines de modeles finissent de les remplacer par le tornadoG mais non alors qu en plus on pourrait questionner sur le changement de camion pour avoir un vehicule plus performant franchissement en vitesse avec uune mitrailleuse teleoperee de toit vue la distance de travail il est plus que possible de tomber sur des DRG ennemis... Enfin il y a la doctrine. Il est pas prevu dans l armee russe un deploiement important de rockettes de 300mm alors que le tornadoS est vraiment une arme a deployer on voit que c est le meme camion qui est utilisé pour le nouveau TOS2. Mais deja une remise a niveau de tous les MLRS au standard TornadoS&G ca serait super.

[@sahachas9062]

Всё есть у нас

[@atomicdmt8763]

range of 350ft? thats absurd........

[@Klovaneer]

For the same reason RPG-7 is still alive and kicking - extreme mobility and reliability. Ural-4320 is a fast truck that just can't quit and 40 122mm rockets are nothing to sneeze at either. Minimal logistical overhead as all it needs is good recon, dirt cheap ammo and some diesel.

[@chrisbremner8992]

Russia just got 10 million shells including grads from North Korea, plus it is quadrupling or more domestic military production, NATO is doomed.

[@patrickdayton2080]

A weapons is never an outdated weapon when it is stil in used

[@walterpleyer261]

Range 328 ft? Maybe the minimum range

[@josmith4626]

It’s cheap and quantity has a quality all of its own.

[@coolaid3740]

Grads is for leveling cities. It was used to defeat nazis in Berlin and its not going anywhere. Also any war with weak nato will be all out nukes so Russian isn't concerned.

[@spartan-s013]

No, Grad doesn't mean hail in russian🤦😂

[@andreyvolynkin1507]

Yes, it does

[@Kadzuki]

@@jasminekica, "Grad" in Russian is literally "hailstorm" as a natural phenomenon ("shower/volley" is also a distant variant, though not literally, but characterising the essence of the weapon). That is, the "hailstorm" missiles shower the earth with hailstones.

[@andreivaughn1468]

lol why so boldly try to talk about something you don't know about. That is literally what it translates to...

[@Alien_isolationist]

190,000 Ukrainian casualties (NYT) 8-18-2023 From American inteligence report. Most with a brain will agree that it's 200,000 + by now. Some would say it's 250,000 +

[@brianmurray1395]

Running low ….Russia ? Are you kidding? Their MIC is running 24/7 and just pumping out the gear.

[@ZOFIELHERRERA-wy3yo]

After firing salvoes, the Grad 21's transport truck drives away to another location thus avoiding being targetted by the enemy.

[@odaigassan5330]

Its a mrls. It's not supposed to be too accurate and it doesn't need protection against smallarms fires I mean its basically an artillery piece if enemy troops are anywhere near it, then somebody should be fired. Ofc protection from drones and fragments would be nice

[@ZOFIELHERRERA-wy3yo]

Russian observation and targetting drones increase the accuracy of the Grad missile launching system.

[@cordellmohawk8408]

Cost effective for large scale conflicts works great

[@mohamedridabourhila9531]

Numerous and simple, more than 2000 systems, expendable in comparaison to heavier- longer range Uragan and new Tornado, numerous, cheap and easy to produce ammo, and ammo can be imported from allies such as Iran and north korea (the case now). An upgraded version called Tornado-G is in production/old BM-21 modernization.

[@Alien_isolationist]

Because it shoots 2-3 dozen missiles still?....

[@elladowling2005]

IT IS VERY USEFUL 😊

[@carlos8040ca]

In the business world cost saving is an strategy. Still works

[@Benz2533]

it cheap and effective. the vehicle use mobility over armor and every artillery crew know that once they fire their load, they have to get out of the area fast before return to sender happen.

[@malonga2098]

This one killed me return to sender

[@jorgeaspera]

Give me the grad over the hmrs any day of the week week

[@ZOFIELHERRERA-wy3yo]

What matters is reliability and effectiveness, not age.

[@wjcurious]

It's an efficient way of conducting war.

[@montanaplease]

Only accurate up to 325 ft but can fly 12-25 miles ????

[@kameraldbahrul3432]

this grad may more cheaper than 1 gmlrs missile

[@brianmurray1395]

I would sure love to own the truck obviously without the rockets and launcher. Great on the farm or in the woods logging

[@liansimte2371]

If it still kicks n does work it's not outdated. USA shud look at their own arsenal. B2 bomber, Ma Deuce r outdated as well but it's still being use.

[@michaelmulto8013]

It's still can kill even it's outdated

[@ZOFIELHERRERA-wy3yo]

China, Iran and even India provide an important number of key components to the Russian armaments design and production industry.

[@tgsgardenmaintenance4627]

If it works!

[@glenroyfraser104]

The grad nade to be upgrade also the rocket system to guided system

[@JulioHernandez-zs5pb]

Fast, cheap, easy to produce and also kills

[@javiermartinezjr8849]

Yea but its all algebra and maps,there not precise but each one has 40 rockets say you have four trucks aim at fob,one fire volleys of three to see where rockets land,boom puts in his dkoing book gives coorditnate now your fob is under 160 rockets thats scary asf

[@patrickdayton2080]

It maybe outdated to you but not for the users

[@laurencegonye4500]

We have heard these stories before..what is wrong with these neocons and their acolytes???

[@jorgeaspera]

Brag 21 2000 dollar for missiles hmrs 100.00 dollars for one so you take your pick

[@TimVoktwo]

Russia has a lot of rockets in their stockpile. They don't have to import any parts for the rocket. Any rocket without a GPS or enertial navigation is aimed manually. The West use them too in their MLRS. The technology hasn't changed much. Just saying.

[@cokrlicix]

Do a little bit of research before posting a video on something, Grad has a range of 20km it can fire all 40 missiles in 30 seconds, after that he can reposition and it takes just 3 minutes to reload. It covers a large land mass and they have a large number of them so it's logical to use them in conflict like this one. Russia has a number of more modern and more precise systems but in a front line over 1200km long and fighting is this fierce it is impossible to use only the latest weapons. They fire sometimes in a day as the US did in the entire Desert storm.

[@AniMageNeBy]

0:57 Because... As Tod Howard and Elon Musk said: "It just works."

[@mgtowstanleyzoltanov9808]

Grad is city in russian is it not ? Like StalinGrad

[@enhancedutility266]

No grad stands for hail in Russian It's not named after a city

[@matovicmmilan]

​@@enhancedutility266 Well the term Grad does have dual meaning, the difference is in accent: for city it's Graad with long "a" while for hail it's GRaD with extremely short "a". Right?

[@mgtowstanleyzoltanov9808]

In Bulgarian, Macedonian Serbian and many other languages Grad means city so I assume at least 50 percent of what ou say is right. @@matovicmmilan

[@emoji_guru]

Russian has thousands of old Soviet weapons and millions of ammunition . Russia is smart using old weapons in huge numbers that way they get very effective. While not using and hoarding new advance weapons for future larger war with west

[@joerf9351]

I think it's in here for the long run, since it's an area weapon and not a point weapon, there is no point in having an ultra modern and ulta expensive solution to it. It's not meant to hit targets of opportunity that have been identified and pin-pointed, it's purpose is to engage large formations and wipe clean areas in a very timely manner and a low cost.

[@user-or2dt8de3l]

It takes ground

[@dipackhattengdi8039]

The US/UK/EU are traditionally known to produce very high- tech & super expensive weaponry. Strangely, the USA/UK/EU haven't won a single significant engagement since WW II. Russian equipment, though portrayed as cheap & low end operates on the principle of..."It rattles & it bangs but it gets you there"! 😅

[@shoaibaalam8978]

Is this channel run by the same guy who has defense TV channel?

[@ansonang7810]

Soviet stockpiles

[@hygienica1246]

Are they outdated?

[@user-xy6cu6dr4t]

They have it lot and it kills.

[@augustomaramonte9619]

Whe have to help Russia rebuild weapons stockpile with a donation to counterfeit sanctions

[@ZOFIELHERRERA-wy3yo]

Russia has vast natural resources and raw materials available to its weapon-making industry.

[@soritasun9407]

BM21 is no joke. It can destroy or kill ma's troops in a single or multiple strikes. 😂😂😂😂

[@scpgaming-452]

cheap battle-proven can launch cluster too

[@FidelCastro404]

Dont old weapons kill

[@hgpsale7605]

US $844 billion Military Budget paid to expensive contractor...a small screw for a rocket system costs US12,000 this shows how the defense contractors milk US tax payer of every single penny....while on the other hand Russia has a budget of US120 billion....Russian produce many weapons for that amount while the US on a few weapon for that 844 amount.

[@dawnstar12]

cheap and they probably have a large stock of amo

[@shahadsorwar3843]

Grad with drone is very devistating. Problem is grads outdated targeting system, and fucking reload time.