Editing Katyusha rocket launcher (section)

{{Short description|Soviet/Russian multiple launch rocket system}}
{{Other uses|Katyusha (disambiguation){{!}}Katyusha}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox weapon
| name               = Katyusha
| image              = Katyusha Rocket Launcher - Artillery Museum - St. Petersburg - Russia.jpg
| image_size         = 300
| caption            = BM-13 Katyusha multiple rocket launcher, based on a [[ZIS-6]] truck.
| origin             = [[Soviet Union]]
| type               = [[Multiple rocket launcher]]
<!-- Service history -->| service            = 1941–1970s
| used_by            = Soviet Union, and others
| wars               = {{Plain list|
* [[World War II]]
* [[First Indochina War]]
* [[Korean War]]
* [[Vietnam War]]
* [[Cambodian Civil War]]
* [[Cambodian–Vietnamese War]]
}}<!-- Production history -->
| designer           = [[Georgy Langemak]]
| design_date        = 
| manufacturer       = Voronezh Plant Comintern
| production_date    = 1941
| number             = ~100,000
}}

The '''Katyusha''' ({{lang-rus|Катю́ша|p=kɐˈtʲuʂə|a=Ru-Катюша.ogg}}) is a type of [[rocket artillery]] first built and fielded by the [[Soviet Union]] in [[World War II]]. [[Multiple rocket launcher]]s such as these deliver explosives to a target area more intensively than conventional artillery, but with lower accuracy and requiring a longer time to reload. They are fragile compared to artillery guns, but are cheap, easy to produce, and usable on almost any chassis. The Katyushas of World War II, the first [[self-propelled artillery]] mass-produced by the Soviet Union,<ref name=Zaloga-1984-150>Zaloga, p. 150.</ref> were usually mounted on ordinary [[Missile vehicle |trucks]]. This mobility gave the Katyusha, and other self-propelled artillery, another advantage: being able to deliver a large blow all at once, and then [[shoot-and-scoot |move before being located]] and attacked with [[counter-battery fire]].

Katyusha weapons of World War II included the '''BM-13''' launcher, light '''BM-8''', and heavy '''BM-31'''. Today, the nickname ''Katyusha'' is also applied to newer truck-mounted post-Soviet – in addition to non-Soviet – multiple-rocket launchers, notably the common [[BM-21 Grad]] and its derivatives.