Bamboo arrow shafts varied from 1.5 ft (45 cm) to 2.5 ft (75 cm) long and the striking distance reached 300 to 400 paces. The typical powder section of the arrow-rockets was 1/3 to 1/2 ft (10 to 15 cm) long. Ĭhinese militaries later created multiple rocket launchers that fired up to 100 small fire-arrow rockets simultaneously. This form of rocket was used during the Mongol siege of Kaifeng. The first multiple rocket launchers were invented during the medieval Chinese Song dynasty, in which the Chinese fire lance was fixed backward on a pike or arrow and shot at an enemy as early as 1180. Korean Joseon hwacha multiple rocket launcher (designed in 1409) in a museum However, modern rockets can use GPS or inertial guidance to combine the advantages of rockets with the higher accuracy of precision-guided munitions. A multiple rocket launcher helps compensate for this with its ability to launch multiple rockets in rapid succession, which, coupled with the large kill zone of each warhead, can easily deliver saturation fire over a target area.

Unguided rocket artillery is notoriously inaccurate and slow to reload compared to gun artillery. Rockets are self-propelled in flight and have different capabilities than conventional artillery shells, such as longer effective range, lower recoil, typically considerably higher payload than a similarly sized gun artillery platform, or even carrying multiple warheads. BM-30 Smerch 300 mm rocket launcher in raised position ( Saint Petersburg artillery museum)Ī multiple rocket launcher ( MRL) or multiple launch rocket system ( MLRS) is a type of rocket artillery system that contains multiple launchers which are fixed to a single platform, and shoots its rocket ordnance in a fashion similar to a volley gun.

Osprey transporter carry on