Luna tactical nuclear rocket

Development and deployment

Development began in 1953 at NII-1 under the supervision of N. P. Mazurov, following the earlier 2K1 Mars and 2K4 Filin designs. NII-1 was responsible for the rocket, while TsNII-58 designed the launch and transporter-loader vehicles. The initial system name was S-125A "Pion": in 1957 prototypes of the launch vehicle (S-123A), the transloader (S-124A) and the 3R5 rocket went to evaluation, with trials at Kapustin Yar in 1958 and in the Transbaikal Military District in 1959. The transloader was then abandoned and the rocket redesigned, producing the 3R9 and 3R10; series production was decided in December 1959 and the first five systems were ready in January 1960. It entered service with the Soviet Army in 1960 and remained in service until 1982, with 432 SPU 2P16 launchers built between 1960 and 1964. The self-propelled launcher was based on a modified PT-76B chassis and had a combat weight of 18 tonnes. Nuclear warheads 3N14 were produced by the instrument-making plant in Tryokhgorny.

Specifications and limitations

Range was 45 km with the 3R9 and 32 km with the 3R10; the warheads were the 358 kg high-explosive fragmentation 3N15 and the nuclear 3N14 respectively. Circular error probable reached up to 1 km. The rocket was unguided and aiming was done from the launcher. The launcher's top speed was 40 km/h, but the vehicle rocked so violently that it imposed loads dangerous to the nuclear warhead, so practical speed was limited to 20 km/h.

Organisation and exports

In the Soviet Army each motorised rifle and tank division had one rocket battalion organised as two batteries of two 2P16s each. From 1965 the 2K6 began to be replaced by the more successful 9K52 Luna-M (NATO FROG-7). Early versions, FROG-3 and FROG-5, were exported to Warsaw Pact states and to Algeria, Cuba, Egypt, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Syria; in the DPRK more than 24 remain in limited service as of 2024, where the system may be called Hwasong-1.

Deployment in Cuba, 1962

During the Cuban Missile Crisis the system was deployed as the dual-use Luna/Frog system. On 7 September 1962 Khrushchev augmented the Operation Anadyr plan with six nuclear bombs for Il-28 bombers and 12 short-range nuclear warheads for this dual-use system, and on 4 October the Indigirka unloaded at Mariel 12 warheads for Lunas alongside 36 for R-12 missiles and 36 for FKR cruise missiles. In Cuba that October there were 36 2K6 rockets with six launchers: 12 with nuclear warheads and 24 with conventional ones. Whether field commanders had authority to launch nuclear warheads is disputed in the sources. At the 1992 Havana conference General Gribkov said central command would give pre-authorisation in the event of a U.S. landing, but that draft order was never signed by Defence Minister Malinovsky, and other testimony holds that authorisation was given orally. A cable of 27 October categorically forbidding use of tactical nuclear weapons without an order from Moscow shows the leadership's concern about unauthorised use. The warheads left Cuba aboard the Arkhangelsk on 1 December.

Combat use and its limits

The first combat use of the Luna family came in the initial stages of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, by both Egypt and Syria. On 6 October the Egyptian 64th Artillery Brigade fired HE rockets from FROG-3 and FROG-7 launchers in support of its Suez Canal crossing, targeting rear bases in Sinai and the El Meleez airfield. The results were marginal, destroying one aircraft on the ground. On the northern front the Syrian 69th Rocket Brigade fired 20 to 25 rockets from FROG-2 and FROG-3 systems at Israeli airfields, but hit only civilian areas, and two stray rockets landed in Jordan.