Реактивные снаряды РС-82 и РС-132 времен Второй мировой войны

Air launched rocket family
RS 82 and RS 132 (Reaktivny Snaryad; Russian: Реактивный Снаряд; rocket powered projectile) were unguided rockets used by Soviet military during World War II.

Design work on RS 82 and RS 132 rockets began in the late 1920s, by the Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL) led by Georgy Langemak, and including Nikolai Tikhomirov, Vladimir Artemiev, Boris Petropavlovsky, Yuriy Pobedonostsev, and others. The 82 mm (3.2 in) and 132 mm (5.2 in) diameters were chosen because the standard smokeless gunpowder charge used at the time was 24 mm (0.94 in) in diameter and seven of these charges fitted into an 82 mm cylinder. The first test firing of a solid fuel rocket was carried out in March 1928, which flew for about 1,300 meters and in 1932 in air test firings of RS 82 missiles from an Tupolev I 4 aircraft armed with six launchers successfully took place. In 1933 GDL became part of the Reactive Scientific Research Institute, where development of the rockets continued. In 1937, aerodynamically efficient RO 82 rail launchers were designed for mounting these weapons on aircraft.

RS 82 officially entered service in 1937 and RS 132 in 1938. The RS 82 missiles were carried by Polikarpov I 15, I 16 and I 153 fighter planes, the Polikarpov R 5 reconnaissance plane and the Ilyushin Il 2 close air support plane, while the heavier RS 132 missiles could be carried by bombers. In the same year, as part of the attempted annexation of Finland, in the Winter War, six RS 132 rockets were fired, from Tupolev SB bombers, against Finnish ground targets. Like most unguided rockets, RS suffered from poor accuracy. Early testing demonstrated that, when fired from 500 m (1,640 ft), a mere 1.1% of 186 fired RS 82 hit a single tank and 3.7% hit a column of tanks. RS 132 accuracy was even worse, with no hits scored in 134 firings during one test. Combat accuracy was even worse, since the rockets were typically fired from even greater distances. The RS 82 could destroy a tank with a direct hit and the larger RS 132 could knock out a tank with a near miss.