Key Points: Russia’s TOS-1 Buratino and its upgraded TOS-1A Solntsepek are T-72 tank-chassis-mounted heavy thermobaric rocket launchers designed to devastate light armored vehicles, fortifications, and personnel with area-effect overpressure and high temperatures.
-The TOS-1A fires 24 unguided 220mm rockets with a range up to 6,000 meters.
-While historically effective in conflicts like Chechnya against less capable adversaries, these systems have proven highly vulnerable in Ukraine.
-Their large size makes them prime targets in a drone-intensive environment, and their launcher design hinders the addition of protective “cope cages,” leading to significant losses (around 31 systems) and questioning their survivability on a modern battlefield.
TOS-1 and TOS-1A: Truly Horrific Weapons of War with Vulnerabilities
The TOS-1 and TOA-1A are some of the more dreaded battlefield weapons placed in the Ukrainian theatre—but with mixed results.
Originally designed for battlefield use against light armored vehicles and fortifications, these systems were eventually employed in environments where the targets had few opportunities to return fire.
The military hardware database Army Recognition describes the versions of the system as the following:
-“The TOS-1 Buratino heavy flame thrower system is a 220mm 30-barrel multiple rocket launcher system that can fire rockets with thermobaric or incendiary warheads. The Russian development of the TOS-1 began in the late 1980s.”
-“The heavy flamethrower system TOS-1 was designed and created at the beginning of the 1980s. It represented a complex combat vehicle—launcher, rockets, and transport and loading vehicle. The flame thrower system is all mounted on a T-72 tank chassis with an armored cluster of tubes.”
The system kills enemy soldiers due to the thermobaric effect of the weapon. Those killed by the system die from the impact of overpressure and high temperature during the explosion of the thermobaric mixtures delivered to the target by the system’s rockets.
The TOS-1 originally entered service with the Russian army at the end of 2000, having been first deployed during the war in Chechnya. The TOS-1 heavy flame thrower can not only destroy military formations but can also set fire and destroy buildings and kill enemy personnel out in the open or in shelters.
The entire system is comprised of a BM-1 combat vehicle, two TZM-T transporter-loader vehicles, and 72 NURS unguided rocket projectiles.
An upgraded version of the system, the TOS-1A Solntsepek features a launch vehicle equipped with 24 tubes, replacing the original 30. The minimum range is 400 meters, and the maximum range is 6,000 meters.
Design Details
The Army Recognition reference materials also outline the system’s configuration.
The TOS-1 is fitted with a large center launcher assembly, including launcher tubes mounted on the center of a modified Russian-made main battle tank T-72 chassis. The chassis features a mounted rotary table in an assembly with a tipping unit for the rocket launcher, servo drives, and a fire control system.
The rotary table is electrically powered to move in both elevation and direction. The launcher assembly is built with four rows, each containing a total of 30 x 220 mm rocket tubes. The top layer has six launcher tubes, while the three bottom layers have six launcher tubes each.
The TOS-1 fires 220mm unguided rockets with a minimum range of 600 m and a maximum range of 4,000 meters. All the rockets can be fired simultaneously within a 6-second maximum duration. The zone of ensured destruction from a Buratino salvo is 200 x 400 meters. For its self-protection, the TOS-1 launch vehicle is also equipped with two smoke-grenade dischargers mounted on each side at the front of the hull.
Design and protection
The TOS-1, as mentioned above, is a T-72 Russian-made main battle tank with the turret removed. The driver is at the front in the center of the chassis, and there are two small turrets behind the other members of the crew. The hull is made of steel, which provides protection for the crew against the firing of small arms and artillery shell splinters.
Mobility
The TOS-1 is based on the chassis of the Russian-made T-72 main battle tank. The vehicle is motorized with a V-12 multifuel engine, V-84-1, which develops a power of 840 hp at 2,000 rpm. The TOS-1 launch vehicle has a total weight of 46,000 kg and can travel at a maximum road speed of 60 km/h, with a maximum range of 550 km without the need for additional fuel tanks.
The suspension consists of each side of six road wheels with the idler at the front, drive sprocket at the rear and rear, and three return rollers supporting the inside of the track only. Rubber plates protect the upper part of the suspension.
Combat Equipment
The TOS-1 launch vehicle is equipped with a fire control system, a ballistic computer, an aiming sight, and a laser range finder 1D14. The right-side hatch is fitted with a small infrared light. Two stabilizing jacks are mounted at the rear of the chassis, which are deployed on the ground for firing.
Evaluation
Russia has long made use of thermobaric weapons on the battlefield. In the Kosovo campaign, there was no end of intelligence reports that warned of the use of Russian-made RPGs that fired a thermobaric warhead. The TOS series of platforms has just taken this weaponry to a higher level.
The Russian experience with the system in Ukraine has been less than successful. Some 31 of these systems have been lost, with Ukrainian forces, and the remainder captured have destroyed most.
The system’s history to date is one in which it has been somewhat effective in theatres such as Chechnya or Syria, particularly when Russian troops are not fighting against a peer competitor. The TOS-1 and -1A were designed more to terrorize and demoralize a less-capable and inferior-armed enemy force – along with the local population.
But the systems have fared far less successfully in the Ukraine war. Their high attrition rate in Ukraine is due to the fact that any vehicle that is the size of a main battle tank is highly susceptible to attack by the drone-intense environment.
Tanks on the Ukraine battlefield generally require the addition of external, add-on armor and protective “cages” installed on top of their turrets to protect against drone and anti-tank missile attacks. The rocket launch assembly of the TOS-1 and -1A vehicle makes those kinds of precautionary additions almost impossible.
This type of battlefield vulnerability diminishes the system’s effectiveness in high-density, constant artillery and drone bombardment environments.
About the Author:
Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw. He has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defense technology and weapon systems design. Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.
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