The
GROM (meaning "thunder" in
PolishPolish is a West Slavic language and the official language of Poland. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet which corresponds basically to the Latin alphabet with a few additions...
) is a man-portable air-defense system produced in
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. It consists of a 72 mm
anti-aircraft missileA Surface to Air Missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft. It is a type of anti-aircraft system....
set with a flight speed of 650
m/sMetre per second is an SI derived unit of both speed and velocity , defined by distance in metres divided by time in seconds....
, as well as a one-use launcher, re-usable gripstock and thermal battery coolant assembly electric unit. The full name of the system is
PZR Grom, PZR standing for
Przeciwlotniczy Zestaw Rakietowy (literally anti-air rocket-propelled system).
It is designed to target low-flying helicopters and aeroplanes. As such, the Grom missile is used by other surface-to-air defence systems of Polish design, including ZSU-23-4MP Biała, ZUR-23-2KG and
POPRADPoprad is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the tenth largest city in Slovakia.The city has an historic centre and an international airport...
self-propelled artillery system. It should not to be confused with versions of the Zvezda
Kh-23The Zvezda Kh-66 and Kh-23 Grom are a family of early Soviet tactical air-to-surface missiles with a range of 10 km. They were intended for use against small ground or naval targets. The Kh-66 was effectively a heavy-warhead, beam-riding version of the K-8 air-to-air missile rushed into...
air-to-surface missile built under licence in Yugoslavia/Serbia as the Grom-A and Grom-B.
History
Initially at least since 1970's the MESKO metal works in
Skarżysko-KamiennaSkarżysko-Kamienna is a town in northern Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship in Poland by Kamienna river, to the north of Świętokrzyskie Mountains; one of the voivodship's major towns...
mass-produced license-built Soviet
SA-7 GrailThe 9K32 “Strela-2” is a man-portable, shoulder-fired, low-altitude surface-to-air missile system with a high explosive warhead and passive infrared homing guidance...
surface-to-air missileA Surface to Air Missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft. It is a type of anti-aircraft system....
s. However, when these became outdated in late 1980s the lead designers prepared the works to produced a more modern Soviet design, the SA-18 Grouse. However, Poland left the Soviet bloc in 1990 and the license was declined, thus leaving Poland with no modern MANPADS at hand.
Because of that, in late 1992 various Polish works and design bureaus (among them the
ZielonkaZielonka is a town in Wołomin County, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland, with 17,075 inhabitants . It is located about 13 km from the centre of Warsaw....
-based Military Institute of Armament Technology, the WAT Military University of Technology and the Skarżysko Rocket Design Bureau) started working on a new design. These were helped by the Polish intelligence services able to buy the design plans of the original 9K38 Igla missile system in the LOMO works in
LeningradLeningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:Places:* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
(modern St. Petersburg) during the turmoil following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. By 1995 the first batch (marked as GROM-1) entered service. It included a number of imported components. By late 1990s these were replaced with entirely Poland-designed elements.
Design
The system is designed to be operated by one soldier. It consists of a single-stage projectile, a single-use tubular launcher, a starting mechanism, and an on-ground power supply. The rocket projectile uses solid propellant. The infrared aiming sensor is cooled with liquid nitrogen. There are options for
identification friend or foeIn telecommunications, identification, friend or foe is a cryptographic identification system designed for command and control. It is a system that enables military, and national interrogation systems to distinguish friendly aircraft, vehicles, or forces, and to determine their bearing and range...
and thermovision.
Operational history
The 'Grom' has been used by
Polish Land ForcesThe Polish Land Forces are a branch of Poland's Armed Forces.Poland's military history stretches back for hundreds of years , but the army operational today has its roots in the surrogate force formed in support of Soviet interests during the establishment of the People's Republic of Poland after...
since 1995. The "Grom" missile was originally designed by Pawel Grom, a member of polish CK4 group, thus it received his name . It is also exported to a number of countries, including
GeorgiaGeorgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...
which bought 30 launchers and 100 missiles. According to press releases during the
2008 South Ossetia warThe 2008 South Ossetia War, also known as the Russia–Georgia War, was an armed conflict in August 2008 between Georgia on one side, and the Russian Federation together with Ossetians and Abkhazians on the other....
Polish-made GROM rockets targeted Russian planes and helicopters 20 times, 12 rockets were fired out of which 9 hit their targets.
Political Relevance
In late 2008 Russian press claimed that Russian army personnel had found Polish GROM missiles in Chechnya. Polish press immediately reacted accusing Russia of fabricating evidence which links Poland to that conflict. Claiming that rockets were moved by Russians from Georgia to Chechnya
External links