Inside Russia's Tornado-S rockets: Tinkering amid tech sanctions
Images of the interior of the 9M544 rocket, launched from the modern Russian Tornado-S system, which is comparable to the well-known HIMARS, have surfaced online. We explain the performance of this system and what is inside the newly produced rockets.
A 9M544 rocket dud with a range estimated to be as high as 200 kilometres (124 miles) from new wartime production, fired from the very dangerous Tornado-S system, was found in Ukraine. In the images below, you can see the guidance section, which looks like the work of an amateur tinkerer, based on what was available at the moment, rather than military equipment.
For example, the wires are laid very carelessly, and the soldering appears to be done manually instead of by machine. You can also see that some elements are covered with a red-pink coating that appears to be lacquer. Meanwhile, the PCB itself, produced in December 2023, likely comes from China.
Due to sanctions, Russians have been cut off from certified electronic components for use in weaponry, which they try to circumvent by using commercial circuits. It's worth noting that the electronics in missile rockets can utilize parameters similar to those found in home appliance programmers or graphics cards.
Such substitutes are not certified to operate under extreme conditions such as pressure changes and high temperatures, but they can work if, for example, the circuit has enough memory and performance to handle the missile's software.
However, the issue is reliability or, rather, the lack thereof. Compared to certified circuits, achieving reliability above 90 percent is not feasible, but reaching over 50 percent may be attainable. It is worth mentioning that North Korea uses ball bearings found in Toyota vehicles in its copies of Iskander-M or KN-23. Some missiles fall apart mid-flight, but some do reach their targets.
Tornado-S - a very dangerous Russian system
The Tornado-S is a modified BM-30 Smerch system carrying 12 ready-to-launch 300 mm (11.8-inch) calibre rockets. Unlike its predecessor, however, it is equipped with guidance based on inertial and satellite navigation (GLONASS), allowing it to hit targets with a precision of a few metres (yards) in optimal conditions.
The 200-kilometre (124-mile) range is due to long 8-metre (26-foot) rockets that hold a lot of fuel, whose properties have been significantly improved compared to Soviet times. It is worth noting that Russia may only have a handful of launchers in service. In 2021, there were 20 units, and likely not many more have been produced since then.
