Serbia unveils details of Kosava rocket system
Miroslav Gyürösi
Jane's Missiles & Rockets - September 01, 2007
This artwork shows how the Kosava missile is created by mounting an
LVB-250F laser-guided bomb at the front end of a 262 mm calibre Orkan rocket. (Yugoimport-SDPR)
This TAM-110 6x6 chassis is fitted with a three-rail launcher. (Miroslav Gyürösi)
The five-rail launch vehicle is based on a FAP 2026 6x6 chassis. (Yugoimport-SDPR)
In its basic air-launched form, the LVB-250F laser-guided bomb is not fitted with a wing kit. (Miroslav Gyürösi)
Serbian defence organisation Yugoimport-SDPR announced a new tactical surface-to-surface guided rocket - created by mating a semi-active laser-guided bomb (LGB) with a solid-propellant rocket motor - at the 'Partner 2007' exhibition in Belgrade in June.
According to Yugoimport-SDPR, the system has been developed for export only.
The Kosava (Whirlwind) system consists of the guided rocket, a transporting and launching vehicle, a command vehicle and a logistic vehicle.
The first version of the transporting and launching vehicle is based on the TAM 110 6x6 truck, the chassis used for the command vehicle, and has three launch rails. A follow-on five-rail version is based on the FAP 2026 6x6 chassis used for the logistic vehicle.
At the exhibition, the company showed only the three-rail launch vehicle; the missile was shown only as an artwork.
The payload of the Kosava missile is the LVB-250F (Laserski vocsena bomba) LGB design developed by Military Technical Institute VTI (Voynotekhnicski institut) in Belgrade. The LVB-250F bomb is 3.1225 m long, 325 mm in diameter, has a wingspan of 1.315 m and weighs 310 kg.
To create a complete missile, an LVB-250F LGB is mounted at the front end of the rocket motor used by the 262 mm calibre unguided rocket of the Orkan MLRS. The resulting missile is 6.145 m long and weighs 610 kg. The artwork displayed at 'Partner 2007' showed the LGB fitted with a wing kit of 3 m span, which suggests the LGB separates from the rocket at the end of the powered phase of flight. It is not clear if all rounds will have the wing kit or if the latter is an optional feature intended to create an extended-range variant.
Designed primarily for artillery engagements behind the front line, the Kosava missile has a maximum range of 26 km with a 120 sec time of flight along a trajectory with an apogee of 4 km. In its basic form, the Orkan 262 mm rocket has a maximum range of 50 km, but this is achieved when carrying an 80-90 kg warhead rather than a 310 kg LGB.
Targets have to be laser-designated and will be acquired by the bomb's guidance system at a range of up to 10 km from impact. Terminal velocity is 180 m/sec and the circular error probable (CEP) is 5 m.
Several ways of improving the maximum range have been studied. These include using a new rocket motor with a higher specific impulse and reducing the weight of the LG
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17-09-2007, 17:21
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