This 240-Rocket Semi Truck Means Business

The Multiple Cradle Launcher has up to six times the firepower of other multiple rocket launchers.

Sometimes one or two rockets just won't do, and you need 239 or 240. That's the thinking behind the Jobari Defense Systems Multiple Cradle Launcher (MCL). Developed in the United Arab Emirates, MCL can ripple fire more than two hundred rockets at some unfortunate target, saturating an area with tens of thousands of lethal steel balls.

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The MCL consists of an Oshkosh Defense 6×6 Heavy Equipment Transporter—known in the US Army as the M1070 HET. The M1070 is used by the Army to haul Abrams tanks, and towards that end has eight wheels and a 700 horsepower Caterpillar six cylinder turbocharged diesel engine.

The rest of the MCL is a 5 x 5 trailer with four rocket launcher cradles, each holding sixty 122-millimeter rockets. Once in position, the trailer lowers ten hydraulic stabilizers into place, securing the MCL against the recoil of firing. The fire control system is fully computerized, with the gunner able to select the number of rockets to launch. An internal navigation system and global positioning system for each of the four cradles aids in accuracy.

The MCL apparently uses TRB-122 122-millimeter rockets manufactured by Turkish defense contractor Rocketsan. A high explosive version has a point detonating fuse, while another version uses a proximity fuze to saturate the target area with lethal steel balls. Both rockets have a range of up to 22 miles at sea level. The MCL can ripple fire all 240 rounds in less than two minutes, or 8,640 pounds of high explosive and steel.

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The MCL packs a lot of rockets into a single vehicle, up to six times more than other mobile rocket launchers. Placing all that firepower under the command of a single gunner simplifies command and control, and allows the gunner to plot the destruction of a very wide area.

But there are some downsides. The small warhead 122-millimeter warhead makes for a fairly small rocket with a short range and smaller payload—likely about 36 pounds of high explosive. The enormous size of the MCL, trailer and all, would make it hard to transport to distant battlefields. Based on a wheeled semi tractor trailer, the MCL probably has limited offroad capability, making it mostly road-bound.

Last month, Jobaria introduced the Twin Cradle Launcher (TCL), which carries two cradles each with four 300-millimeter rockets. These larger rockets, probably the Rocketsan TR-300 rockets, have both high explosive and steel ball warheads and a range of more than sixty miles.

Source: USArmy4Lyfe

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