At the end of the 70s. The development of a heavy flamethrower multiple launch rocket system began. The system was a installation with unguided rocket projectiles. TOS-1 "Buratino" was created on the basis of the T-72 tank. During development, the system was designated “Object 634”. TOS-1 was first used during the Afghan war. The goals of creating a heavy flamethrower installation required it to be installed on a chassis with significant carrying capacity. The designers also had to take into account the relatively low firing range and install a certain level of protection on the combat vehicle. All this significantly made the multiple launch rocket system heavier.
TOS-1 “Pinocchio”
A package of 30 guides for NURSs was mounted in the swinging part of the launcher on a rotating platform. The complex included a combat vehicle - a launcher, NURS, and a transport-loading vehicle. Actions to point the installation at the target are carried out using a sight and power servo drives. The TOS-1 was equipped with a special fire control system, including an optical sight, a roll sensor, a laser range finder, and an electronic ballistic computer. An unguided rocket consists of a warhead, a fuse, and a solid propellant jet engine. The transport-loading vehicle is created on the basis of an off-road truck chassis and is used to transport NURS and load the launcher.
The TOS-1 Buratino multiple launch rocket system was intended to disable automobile and lightly armored vehicles, destroy buildings and structures, and destroy enemy personnel. The defeat of the enemy is achieved through complex exposure to fragments, high temperatures and high pressure. Currently, the TOS-1 Buratino multiple rocket launcher 24-barrel flamethrower system is in service with the Russian army. Thanks to the experience of combat use of TOS-1 in Afghanistan and Chechnya, its high effectiveness has been proven. In addition to combat purposes, TOS-1 "Buratino" can be used to combat mountain avalanches, forest fires, and ice jams on rivers.
News of Ukraine
Rumors about a powerful Russian flamethrower have scared mercenaries in Ukraine.
The Internet is seething with rumors: supposedly reports that the Solntsepek super-powerful flamethrower system could be used near Lugansk caused panic in the Ukrainian General Staff. And the mercenaries, having heard about this, left their combat positions: “We didn’t agree that way.”
Indeed, not so long ago in the Southern Military District at the Prudboy training ground, during large-scale military exercises, a radiation-chemical and biological protection brigade fired several salvos at targets simulating tanks and a group of infantry of the alleged enemy. According to informed sources, firing was also carried out from Solntsepek heavy flamethrower systems. What is it and could this little-known weapon really scare foreign military professionals?
The flamethrowers that currently exist in many armies around the world operate according to the same scheme - a jet of flammable mixture is fired under pressure and set on fire. But in the USSR they took a different route - incendiary mixtures were placed in capsules and fired from grenade launchers. Such hand-held grenade launchers and flamethrowers were called “Bumblebee”.
In the 1970s, a multiple launch rocket system was created that fired 220 mm rockets with a volume-detonating incendiary mixture. Each rocket was equipped with 100 kg of thermobaric mixture. When a warhead was detonated within a certain radius, the temperature reached 3000 degrees. Everything living and inanimate burned. In addition, a “vacuum bomb” effect occurred due to the burning of air. It was impossible for the enemy infantry to survive the hellfire and instantaneous pressure changes. True, the heavy flamethrower system was called something childishly - TOS-1 “Buratino”.
It was mounted on the chassis of the T-72 tank. The package of 30 launch tubes is covered with an armored box that protects against damage from bullets and shrapnel. The firing range was short - up to 4.5 km.
The heavy flamethrower was supposed to be used at the front line within the visual range of the enemy. This system was first used in Afghanistan against the mujahideen in the 1980s, used to destroy caves and makeshift bunkers where they were hiding. In Afghanistan, the excessive firepower of the flamethrower also became apparent. “Pinocchio” was first shown openly at an exhibition in Omsk in 1999.
Later it was used in Chechnya, in the battles for Grozny in 1999-2000, as well as near the village of Komsomolskoye. The system performed well in battles in urban areas, especially when the damage caused is not particularly important for commanders. The air-fuel mixture disperses into the air and explodes, creating a pressure of 30 atmospheres and a temperature of up to 3000 degrees. The mixture penetrates through the cracks into the leaking bunker and destroys it with a powerful fire and blast wave.
The US Army report noted that the body armor did not provide adequate protection from the high temperatures and pressures produced during the explosion of a thermobaric warhead. The blast wave can cause extensive damage to internal organs (primarily the lungs and intestinal system), which cannot be easily diagnosed and stabilized in combat conditions.
And in 2001, JSC Design Bureau of Transport Engineering (Omsk) created a more advanced and lightweight version of the super flamethrower - TOS-1A Solntsepek. It features a more advanced fire control system, fewer missile barrels - 24 instead of 30, better armor protection and new ammunition. The firing range has increased to 6 km, and the radius of destruction of each missile has increased. One such installation burns everything on an area of up to 40 thousand square meters. meters, there is nothing alive left there. The Solntsepek was also mounted on the chassis of T-72 tanks; with the advent of the new heavy Armata, it is planned to mount the installation on it.
All 24 missiles can be fired within 24 seconds, delivering 2.4 tons of fire mixture to the target.
TOS-1A "Solntsepek" with projectiles with an increased flight range was adopted by the Russian army on April 4, 2001. It is in service with radiation, chemical and biological defense troops. Since 2008, export of the system has been allowed. The heavy flamethrower was purchased by the armies of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Starting this year, it is supplied to Iraq.
In Afghanistan, the use of "Pinocchio" made a terrifying impression on the dushmans. Those who saw the sea of fire in the distance and remained alive could no longer forget it. This is what we can say here. One of the favorite tactics of the Dushmans was to hide in mountain gorges, where there were many prepared “holes” from which to unexpectedly strike columns of troops of a limited contingent who had the imprudence to enter the gorge. Finding shelters in advance and driving the bandits out of them was considered an almost impossible task. And then “Pinocchio” came into action.
They cultivated those areas of the gorges in which there could be hidden positions of dushmans. Everything that was on the open surface was burned out. And the effect of a “vacuum bomb” or thermobaric shock left no chance of survival for those who were hiding in cracks or small caves.
If among the commanders of Islamic militants in Iraq there are veterans of the Afghan war, when the USSR took part in it, they have probably heard the terrible “fairy tales” about “Pinocchio”. And this will not add enthusiasm to the armed opponents of the current government in Baghdad.
There are many former Afghan soldiers living on the territory of Ukraine, and they have also heard about “Pinocchio,” and some have seen them in action. And the mercenaries studied Soviet TOZs in their military schools. In the West, both “Pinocchio” and “Sunny Day” are almost demonized. Perhaps because there are no analogues in NATO armies. And you shouldn’t be surprised if the “wild geese” withdrew from their positions and “flew” home as soon as they found out that the Russian army was conducting training fire from Solntsepeks somewhere very nearby.
The Ukrainian media added fuel to the panic fire. They contained publications that allegedly either “Buratino” or “Solntsepeki” were spotted in the area of the Luhansk airport, when it was still under the control of the Kyiv security forces and mercenaries. Outwardly they are really similar.
The use of heavy flamethrowers at the airport was not recorded. But resistance there has weakened significantly. And the militia managed to take control of it.
RG
TOS-1A "Solntsepek"
The TOS-1A heavy flamethrower system was developed in 2001. The main task of the system is to support infantry and armored formations. Main differences from the basic version:
– The number of guides on the combat vehicle was reduced from 30 to 24. – The transport-loading vehicle is based on the main T-72 tank (in the basic modification it was placed on the chassis of a KrAZ truck)
Composition of TOS-1A:
– Combat vehicle BM-1 (Object 634B); – Transport-loading vehicle TZM-T (Object 563); – NURS MO.1.01.04 or MO.1.01.04M.
A video of the shooting of “Snake Gorynych” and “Solntsepek” has appeared
A video of the firing of heavy flamethrower systems (TOS-1A) “Solntsepek” and self-propelled rocket demining systems UR-77 “Meteorite” (“Zmey Gorynych”) at the exercises “Center-2019” has appeared on the network, Zvezda
.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Donguz training ground, where the main stage of the strategic command and staff exercise Center-2019 is taking place, September 19, 2019
Mi-8 helicopters during the main stage of the strategic command and staff exercise "Center-2019" at the Donguz training ground, September 20, 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Donguz training ground, where the main stage of the strategic command and staff exercise "Center-2019" is taking place, September 19, 2019 The full gallery can be viewed in a separate report
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TOS-1A "Solntsepek" is a modification of the TOS-1 "Buratino", a heavy flamethrower multiple rocket launcher system based on the T-72 tank. The distinctive features of the new product are: the number of shells has been reduced to 24, the firing range has been increased to 6 kilometers, the KrAZ chassis has been replaced with a modernized tracked base of the T-72A tank, reports Military Review.
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"Meteorite" is a Soviet self-propelled rocket mine clearance system. Created on the basis of the 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer. The UR-77 is capable of making moves through anti-tank minefields during combat. The width of the passage is about 6 meters and the length is from 80 to 90 meters.
Despite the fact that the UR-77 is not designed for mine clearance, the installation can clear fields of American M14 pressure mines, creating passages up to 14 meters wide.
Strategic command and staff exercises "Center-2019" are held from September 16 to 21 under the leadership of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Army General Valery Gerasimov. The maneuvers are carried out at six Russian combined arms training grounds: Totsky, Donguz, Adanak, Chebarkulsky, Yurginsky, and Aleysky.
The training grounds of the air force and air defense forces “Ashuluk”, “Safakulevo”, as well as in the Caspian Sea are also involved. Some episodes of the fight against illegal armed groups take place at the training grounds of partner states.
The military command and control bodies and troops of the Central Military District, the Caspian Flotilla of the Southern Military District, part of the forces of the Eastern Military District, the Airborne Forces, long-range and military transport aviation of the Aerospace Forces were involved in the exercises, as well as to practice joint actions -
military contingents of China, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.
In total, about 128 thousand military personnel, more than 20 thousand units of weapons and military equipment, about 600 aircraft and up to 15 ships and support vessels, 250 tanks, 450 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, 200 artillery are taking part in the Center-2019 maneuvers systems and MLRS.
During the exercises, issues of using coalition forces in solving problems of combating international terrorism and ensuring military security in the Central Asian strategic direction are being worked out.
Following the results of the exercises, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu awarded medals “For Distinction in Exercises” to three Russian military personnel. Three military personnel from India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were awarded medals “For Strengthening the Military Commonwealth.”
The Presidents of Russia and Kyrgyzstan, Vladimir Putin and Sooronbai Jeenbekov, attended the exercises. In addition to observing the maneuvers, the politicians tasted the bread baked in the field bakery. After completing the active phase of the exercise, they headed to the trailer bakery, where tables with loaves, pies, rolls and other treats were set up.
Putin, Jeenbekov and the military leaders each took a piece of freshly baked bread and a cup of tea and held a tea party “on their feet.” During the conversation, Putin noted the successful nature of the exercises.
“I reacted very positively,” said Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov.
According to the Kremlin representative, the Russian leader was reported online about what was happening during the maneuvers, NSN
.
In addition, during the exercises, Shoigu discussed with his Chinese counterpart, Colonel General Wei Fenghe, a plan for cooperation between military departments for 2022 - 2022, FAN
.
Russia and China will strengthen military cooperation,
Shoigu noted. According to the head of the Chinese Ministry of Defense, the joint exercises demonstrate a high level of bilateral relations - “shoulder to shoulder.”
Earlier, Russia and Belarus held a joint operational exercise “Union Shield - 2019” at the Mulino training ground in the Nizhny Novgorod region. About 12 thousand Russian and Belarusian military personnel took part in them, more than 950 units of military equipment were involved, including BTR-82A armored personnel carriers, BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles, T-72B3 tanks, Tunguska and Strela anti-aircraft gun and missile systems ", multiple launch rocket systems "Smerch", self-propelled artillery systems "Msta-S" and "Gvozdika", SU-30SM aircraft, Mi-8AMTSh and Ka-52 helicopters were attracted from the Leningrad Air Force and Air Defense Army.
During the exercise, soldiers and officers of the two countries practiced interaction in blocking and destroying illegal armed groups, conducting defensive actions, and providing comprehensive support in the interests of solving assigned tasks.
Performance characteristics of TOS-1 Buratino (TOS-1A Solntsepek)
– Year(s) of production: 1987 - present. time – Chassis: T-72 tank platform – BM crew, people: 3
Overall dimensions of TOS-1 Buratino (TOS-1A Solntsepek)
– Length in stowed position, mm: 6860 – Width in stowed position, mm: 3460 – Height in stowed position, mm: 2600 (estimated) – Ground clearance, mm: 470
Weight TOS-1 Buratino (TOS-1A Solntsepek)
– Weight in firing position, kg: 46,000
Armament TOS-1 Buratino (TOS-1A Solntsepek)
– Caliber, mm: 220 – Barrel length, mm: 5000 (estimated) – Number of guides: 24 (30)
Firing range of TOS-1 Buratino (TOS-1A Solntsepek)
– Minimum firing range, m: 400 – Maximum firing range, m: 3600 (with new missiles - up to 6000)
Damage area of TOS-1 Buratino (TOS-1A Solntsepek)
– up to 40,000 m²
Engine TOS-1 Buratino (TOS-1A Solntsepek)
– Engine type: V-12 diesel
Speed TOS-1 Buratino (TOS-1A Solntsepek)
– Maximum speed on the highway, km/h: 65
– Cruising range on the highway, km: 550
