RKU-36U mortar

Description

The RKU-36U is a Soviet anti-submarine rocket (ASROC) launcher. It was introduced in Update "Drone Age".

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• Blagorodnyy

General info

The RKU-36U is an anti-submarine rocket launcher system that fires 302 mm rockets equipped with depth charges. The launcher system is mounted to the rear of the ship in pairs, and angled slightly outwards. The launcher has no horizontal guidance, only vertical guidance.

Each rocket is propelled by a solid-fuel rocket motor, and travels much slower than the rockets of the RBU-2500.

Effective damage

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Comparison with analogues

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Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

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History

Simultaneously with the development of the RBU-2500 anti-submarine rocket launcher, the staff of Soviet Scientific Research Institute-1 under the direction of N.P. Mazurov worked on an anti-submarine system designed to complement it. The new RKU-4500A “Burun” system was proposed to be installed at the stern of the ship. It's task was to shoot depth charges for the stern and re-attack the enemy submarine, already fired by the Smerch system. In this way, it was planned to increase the efficiency of anti-submarine systems, as well as to replace the long-obsolete depth charge projectors such as the BMB-1 and BMB-2.

The structure of the system "Burun" included four RKU-36U rocket launchers. These units were a supporting platform with vertical guidance mechanisms, on which six shafts (two vertical rows of three shafts) of 302 mm caliber rocket barrels were attached. Shooting at the stern of the ship meant the loss of sonar contact with the enemy submarine. For this reason, the RKU-36U bomb bombs were suggested not to be equipped with horizontal guidance systems, but installed on the stern with a “fan”. In this case, it was possible to deliver a massive blow to a relatively large area.

"Finishing" the enemy submarine, damaged with the help of the RBU-2500, was proposed with the help of the "jet-feed bombs" of the RSC. Each such ammunition with a weight of 180 kg carried 101 kg of explosive. The jet engine of the RKB bomb allowed the system to shoot at a distance of 90-115 meters. Once in the water, the bomb began to sink at speeds up to 11,4 m / s. The ammunition was equipped with a contact and contactless acoustic fuse WB-1M. Such equipment made it possible to destroy targets at depths up to 350. One volley of four bomb bombs of the RKU-4500A “Burun” system scattered depth charges on the site with dimensions of 120x200 meters.

To control the “Burun” system, the corresponding elements of the “Tornado” complex were used, as well as a set of special equipment “Tornado-56”. The latter, accepting information from the Smerch SSMP and ship systems, had to calculate the mutual position of the ship and the enemy submarine, as well as determine the moment of the shot.

High hopes were pinned on the Burun system, but it did not receive much distribution. RKU-36U launchers were installed only on a few destroyers of the Project 56PLO class. Instead of four aft bomb bombers, these ships received two each. Despite expectations, the weapon was considered somewhat ineffective: the attack of the submarine behind the stern implied a loss of contact with it, which could accordingly affect the accuracy of the shooting. During the next modernization, the launchers of the Burun system were replaced with RBU-2500 launchers.

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See also

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Naval special armaments
USA
Mortars	7.2-inch T37 · Mk 2
Rockets	5-inch GPSR Mk.7 · Mark 108 Weapon alfa
Missiles	RIM-24A
Germany
Rockets	M/50 Bofors
Missiles	Strela-2M
USSR
Mortars	BM-37 · RBM · RBU-1200 · RBU-2500 · RBU-6000 · RKU-36U
Rockets	BM-14-17 · BM-21 · M13 · M-8
Missiles	Volna-M
Britain
Mortars	Ordnance ML 4.2-inch mortar
Japan
Rockets	4.5-inch BBR Mk.7 (USA) · Mark 108 Weapon alfa (USA)
Italy
Missiles	Nettuno
France
Missiles	SS.11