Firos (artillery)

The Firos (FIROS) was an Italian multiple rocket launcher system developed during the Cold War. The 122 mm rockets were mounted on an armoured 6×6 truck (lorry) for mobility. The Firos vehicles were mounted with forty 122 mm long range rockets. The 122 mm rocket was designed as a surface-to-surface rocket.[1][2]

The first version developed was the Firos-25, 48 of which were exported to the United Arab Emirates in the 1980s.[3] The more powerful Firos-30, with a range of over 30 km,[4] were built in the late 1980s, and entered into service with the Italian Army in 1987.[5]

The Firos were similar to the Russian BM-21 Grad in that they both used 122 mm rockets in groups of forty, although they differed considerably in command and control systems and base vehicle.

Notes
  1. "FIROS-25". The International Magazine of Armies and Weapons. Year VI – Volume V: 30–31. 1978.
  2. Sawhney, R. G. (1984). "Field Artillery Today and Tomorrow". Strategic Analysis. 7 (11): 928–941. doi:10.1080/09700168409428662.
  3. By 2006 the UAE still had 24 of them operational. Cordesman, Anthony H.; Al-Rodhan, Khalid R. (2007). Gulf Military Forces in an Era of Asymmetric Wars, Volume 1. Center for Strategic and International Studies, Prager. p. 292. ISBN 978-0-275-99250-7.
  4. "122 mm Firos 25/30 rockets (Italy), Artillery rockets". Jane's Information Group. Archived from the original on 2012-09-24.
  5. "FIROS-25/30, Multiple launch rocket system". Military Today.
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