USSR Rocket Equipment, Rocket Artillery and Guided Bombs

USSR Naming Conventions
Soviet World War II rocket systems were named according to standard templates which are the following:

• BM-x-y (names used for ground vehicles)
• M-x-y (names used for towed trailers and sledges)
• y-M-x (names used for navy)

where:

• x is a model of a missile.
• y is a number of launch rails/tubes.

In particular, BM-8-16 is a vehicle which fires M-8 missiles and has 16 rails. BM-31-12 is a vehicle which fires M-31 missiles and has 12 launch tubes. Short names such as BM-8 or BM-13 were used too. Number of launch rails/tubes is absent here. Such names describe launchers only no matter a vehicle they are mounted on. In particular BM-8-24 had a number of variants: vehicle mounted (ZiS-5 truck), tank mounted (T-40) and tractor mounted (STZ-3). All of them had the same name: BM-8-24. Other launchers had a number of variants mounted on different vehicles too.

Launcher Mounts
Typical set of vehicles for soviet missile systems is the following:

• ZIS-5 (truck),
• ZIS-6 (truck),
• GAZ-AA (truck),
• STZ-3 (tractor),
• T-40 (tank),
• Studebaker US6 (truck),
• Armored train car,
• River boat,
• Towed sledge,
• Towed trailer,
• Backpack (portable variant, so called "mountain Katyusha"),
• ZiS-151 (truck, used after the war);

Note: There was also an experimental KV-1K – Katyusha mounted on KV-1 tank which was not taken in service.

Rockets, Name and Typical Chassis
Caliber   Tubes/rails  Weapon name  Chassis
82            1                 BM-8                Improvised vehicle mount, towed trailer or sled
82            6                 M-8-6               Towed trailer or sled
82            8                 BM-8-8            Willys MB Jeep
82            12               M-8-12             Towed trailer or sled
82            16              16-M-8               Project 1125 armored river boat
82            24               BM-8-24           T-40 light tank, T-60 light tank
82            24               24-M-8              Project 1125 armored river boat
82            36              BM-8-36            ZiS-5 truck, ZiS-6 truck
82            40              BM-8-40            Towed trailer, GAZ-AA truck
82            48              BM-8-48            ZiS-6 truck, Studebaker US6 U3 truck, rail carriage
82            72              BM-8-72            Rail carriage
132          24              BM-13                ZIS-6 truck, improvised vehicle mount, towed trailer or sled
132          66             -M-13                   Project 1125 armored river boat
132         16                BM-13-16           International K7 "Inter" truck, International M-5-5-318 truck, Fordson WO8T truck,
                                                               Ford/Marmon-Herrington HH6-  COE4 truck, Chevrolet G-7117 truck, Studebaker US6 U3 truck, 
​                                                              GMC CCKW-352M-13 truck, rail carriage
300          4                 M-20-4               Towed trailer
300          4                 M-30-4               Towed trailer
300          8                 M-31-8               Towed trailer
300          12               BM-31-12           Studebaker US6 U3 truck

Rockets used in the above implementations were:
Weapon name     Caliber
M-8                        82
M-13                      132
M-13DD                 132
M-13UK                 132
M-20                       132
M-30                       300
M-31                       300
M-31UK                 300


BM-8-8 (jeep) Soviet UnionWorld War II
BM-8-24 (tank) Soviet UnionWorld War II
BM-8-36 (truck) Soviet UnionWorld War II (1941–)
BM-8-48 (2½ ton truck) Soviet UnionWorld War II
BM-13-16 Katyusha Soviet UnionWorld War II (1940–)
M-30 Soviet UnionWorld War II (1942–)
BM-31 (truck) Soviet UnionWorld War II (1944–)

82 mm  BM-8-8 (jeep)

82 mm BM-8-24 (tank)

82 mm BM-8-36 (truck) (1941–)

82 mm BM-8-48 (2-1/2 ton truck)

132 mm BM-13-16 Katyusha (1940–)

300 mm M-30 (1942–)

300 mm BM-31 (truck) (1944–)