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Originally Posted by canoe
Just a point on technicallity of range, I think the treaty prohibits the U.S from having guided land launched missiles with ranges in excess of 400km.
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Yes but we speak here of systems of massive barrage with range of 90km... stil good enough.
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Originally Posted by The Chap
#1
Whomever spotted that the US does not have to give a s**t about system cost(let alone $munitions) has the Actualite down pat. 
#2
This one being doctrinal. These are first strike weapons. All pleasently in place whilst "negotiations" and/or "mediations" are "arbitrated". Then the barage opens. First fire. Hence the re-load issue is somewhat redundant. Russian naval strategy and accompanying design perhaps supports this. As US ships had a sustained munition capability via fewer projection points, Russian assests concentrated upon a philosophy of "chuck everything you can at the enemy asap and worry about re-loading if y'alive when the smoke clears". I trust the parallel is not lost. Unlike my typing. |
Russia was always preparing for total war.... the one which it faced in WW II. In wars like this initial success does not matter if you can not sustain it. Hence you either MUST crash your enemy in the very begining, or have weapons which make economic rational and give maximum effect per unit of cost.
In general Smerch is good weapon. GunGrape pointed to its significant weakness - separate vehicle for targeting. Though I am pretty sure that targeting vehicle can be combined with launcher making a single vehicle which wold be much more automonous and harder to find .... on other parameters Smerch has ABSOLUTE PERFORMANCE ADVANTAGE (range, load, cost, targeting capabilities, precision) over its foreign peers though having SIGNIFICANT ADVANTAGE IN COST. Though I might be wrong.... understanding little in artillery weapons.
No matter how good or bad guys who may use it.... it they are worriers smarter than Iraqis were the SMERCH would be among HIGHEST PRIORITY threat to their enemies.
ps. Iran has around 100 of less sophisticated GRAD launchers with range of up to 40km..... it does not have complex targeting machine. But it has bad precision.... and VERY VERY cheap 122mm shells, with loading time close to a 5 minutes and coverage area of 15 hectares. This are harder to find..... but they have less capabilities. In 1995 one salvo by Chechen rebbels on an armored column had quite devastating result..... Iranians have got this in 1994....
Important to note that Iraqis were delivered 154 Grad launchers in 1988 but it had ABSOLUTELLY NO EFFECT ON US AMRY ADVANCE.... the launchers were not even used a single time.