Ukraine has become the most significant and lethal battlefield since World War II – and shocked the entire world has hundreds of thousands of soldiers and innocent people have died .
Experts and scholars look over every new image and social media post to determine who is winning and who is losing.
It seems quite clear that Russian President Putin has lost far more hardware than he could have ever imagined.
Footage Shows Rockets Destroyed
In a video that was first shared on social media back in mid-March, a trio of Russian Uragan 9P140 220mm multiple rocket launchers could be seen taking fire and then were subsequently destroyed by Ukrainian artillery near Novonykanorivka, in the Luhansk Oblast.
The nearly two-and-a-half-minute-long clip, posted by Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons), was filmed by a drone that likely served as a spotter for the artillery.
The recording showed the spectacular destruction of the Russian vehicles, which were seen burning at the end of the clip.
It is unclear if any of the crews of the vehicles were present – and if so, it appeared unlikely they could have survived the bombardment.
The footage also highlighted the ability of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to pinpoint an enemy target with such deadly precision.
Three Shots, Three Kills
The type of artillery used to pinpoint the Russian vehicles also isn’t known.
Still, there has been speculation it could have been an M777 howitzer – the British-made 155mm towed artillery, which is capable of firing the M982 Excalibur 155mm GPS-guided munition.
The ordnance provides accurate fire to a range of up to 40km (25 miles) – and essentially doubles the area covered by a single battery to almost 1,250 square kilometers (480 square miles).
An advantage of the M982 Excalibur is that the inertial-guide ordnance is also capable of being used in close support situations with 75 to 150 meters (250 to 490 feet) of friendly troops.
Based on the footage, the third Uragan 9P140 could have also been hit by rounds fired from a U.S.-supplied M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
That platform, which has been considered a “game changer” for Ukraine, has been used to take out enemy barracks, target ammunition depots, and command centers along with other high-value targets.
The Uragan 9P140 in the Crosshairs
The Russian BM-27 Uragan, also designated the 9P140, was first developed in the Soviet era to deliver cluster munitions.
The 24-tonne self-propelled multiple rocket launcher entered service in the late 1970s.
Mounted on a ZIL-135 8×8 truck chassis, the platform is equipped with sixteen 220mm launch tubes. It is operated by a crew of six and has an effective firing range of 35 km (22 miles).
The Uragan (Russian for “Hurricane”) was first employed in combat during the Soviet-Afghan War, while it has seen service in a number of post-Soviet wars including in Chechnya and Georgia.
It has been widely exported to former Communist Bloc client states, and according to open source data, the Kremlin had some 200 in service at the time of its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine – along with an additional 700 in storage.
It is unclear how many have been destroyed in the past year, but it does appear at least three or more have been taken out back in the late winter and early Spring.
#Ukraine: Three Russian Uragan 9P140 220mm multiple rocket launchers were destroyed by Ukrainian artillery near Novonykanorivka, #Luhansk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/7ngJBUXPJo
— ???????? Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 16, 2023
Author Experience and Expertise
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
