Editing Rocket launcher (section)

==History==
{{main|History of rockets}}
[[File:架火戰車.jpg|thumb|Rocket carts from the ''[[Wubei Zhi]]'']]
[[File:11th century long serpent fire arrow rocket launcher.jpg|thumb|left|200px|A depiction of a 'long serpent' rocket launcher from the ''[[Wubei Zhi]]'']]
[[File:Hiya-zutsu and bo-hiya.jpg|thumb|An [[Edo period]] wood block print showing samurai gunners firing ''[[bo-hiya]]'' with ''hiya-zutsu'' (fire arrow guns).]]
The earliest rocket launchers documented in [[History of China#Ancient China|imperial China]] consisted of [[arrow]]s modified by the attachment of a rocket motor to the shaft a few inches behind the arrowhead. The rocket was propelled by the burning of the [[Gunpowder|black powder]] in the motor; these should not be confused with [[Fire arrow|early fire arrows]], which were conventional arrows carrying small tubes of black powder as an [[Incendiary device|incendiary]] that ignited only after the arrow hit its target. The rocket launchers were constructed of wood, basketry, and [[bamboo]] tubes.<ref name="Needham1974">{{cite book|first=Joseph |last=Needham |title=Science and Civilisation in China: Military Technology The Gunpowder Epic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BZxSnd2Xyb0C&pg=PA489|year=1974|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-30358-3|page=488}}</ref> The launchers divided the rockets with frames meant to keep them separated, and the launchers were capable of firing multiple rockets at once. Textual evidence and illustrations of various early rocket launchers are found in the 1510 edition of the ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]'' translated by Needham and others at [[Princeton University]]. (The original ''Wujing Zongyao'' was compiled between 1040 and 1044 and described the discovery of black powder but preceded the invention of the rocket. Partial copies of the original survived and ''Wujing Zongyao'' was republished in 1231 during the [[Southern Song dynasty]], including military developments since the original 1044 publication. The British scientist, sinologist, historian [[Joseph Needham]] asserts that the 1510 edition is the most reliable in its faithfulness to the original and 1231 versions, since it was printed from blocks that were re-carved directly from tracings of the edition made in 1231 AD.) The 1510 ''Wujing Zongyao'' describes the "long serpent" rocket launcher, a rocket launcher constructed of wood and [[Huo Che|carried with a wheelbarrow]], and the "hundred tiger" rocket launcher, a rocket launcher made of wood and capable of firing 320 rocket arrows.<ref name="Needham493">{{harvnb|Needham|1974|p=493}}</ref> The text also describes a portable rocket carrier consisting of a sling and a bamboo tube.<ref name="Needham495">{{harvnb|Needham|1974|p=495}}</ref>

Rocket launchers known as "wasp nest" launchers were used by the [[Ming dynasty]] in 1380 and in 1400 by [[Li Jinglong]] against [[Zhu Di]].{{sfn|Needham|1974|p=514}}

Rockets were introduced to the [[Western world|West]] during the [[Napoleonic Wars]]; the [[Congreve rocket]] was a British weapon devised by [[William Congreve (inventor)|Sir William Congreve]] in 1804 after experiencing [[Mughal Empire|Indian]] rockets at the [[Siege of Seringapatam (1799)]]. Congreve rockets were launched from an iron trough about 18 inches (45 centimetres) in length, called a ''chamber''.<ref>Congreve, William (1814), [https://archive.org/stream/detailsrocketsy00Cong#page/n19/mode/1up ''The Details of the Rocket System''] J. Whiting, London (p. 19)</ref> These chambers could be fixed to the ground for horizontal launching, secured to a folding copper [[tripod]] for high angle fire or mounted on frames on carts or the decks of warships.<ref>Bailey, Jonathan B. A. (2004), [https://books.google.com/books?id=4M_Q6vWMshgC&dq=Wellington+congreve+rocket+system&pg=PA177 ''Field Artillery and Firepower''], Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, {{ISBN|1-59114-029-3}} (p.177)</ref>

The collection of the royal armies includes man portable rocket launchers that appear (based on lock designs) to date from the two decades after 1820.<ref name=Ferguson /> These don't appear to have entered general use and no surviving documentation on them has been found.<ref name=Ferguson>{{cite AV media |people=Jonathan Ferguson |date=23 January 2023 |title=Who would want a flintlock rocket launcher? With firearms and weaponry expert Jonathan Ferguson |language=English |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykKTvgJzzG8 |access-date= 23 January 2023 |publisher=Royal Armouries}}</ref>

During the [[American Civil War]], both the US and the Confederate militaries experimented upon and produced rocket launchers.<ref name="Civil War">{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-unusual-civil-war-weapons|title=8 Unusual Civil War Weapons|publisher=[[History (U.S. TV channel)|History]]|author=Andrews, Evan|date=September 2018 }} April 9, 2013.</ref> Confederate forces used Congreve rockets in limited uses due to its inaccuracies, while the US forces used [[William Hale (British inventor)|Hale]] patent rocket launcher which fired seven to ten inch rockets with fin stabilizers at a range of {{convert|2000|yard|feet}}.

===World War II===
[[File:Katyusha Rocket Launcher - Artillery Museum - St. Petersburg - Russia.jpg|thumb|right|A [[World War II]] [[Katyusha rocket launcher|''Katyusha'' rocket launcher]], mounted on a [[ZiS-6]] truck.]]
Pre-war research programmes into military rocket technology by many of the major powers led to the introduction of a number of [[rocket artillery]] systems with fixed or mobile launchers, often capable of firing a number of rockets in a single [[salvo]]. In the United Kingdom, [[solid fuel rocket]]s were initially used in the [[anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft]] role; the 7-inch [[Unrotated Projectile]] was fired from single pedestal-mounted launchers on warships and a 3-inch version was used by shore based [[Z Battery|Z Batteries]], for which multiple "projectors" were developed. Later developments of these weapons included the [[Land Mattress]] multiple launchers for surface-to-surface bombardment and the [[RP-3]] air-to-ground rockets that were launched from rails fitted to [[fighter bomber]] aircraft. In Germany, the [[15 cm Nebelwerfer 41]] was an adaptation of a multiple barrelled smoke [[mortar (weapon)|mortar]] for artillery rockets. The [[USSR|Soviet]]{{'}}s [[Katyusha rocket launcher|''Katyusha'']] was a self-propelled system, being mounted on trucks, tanks and even trains. The [[United States Army]] deployed the tank mounted [[T34 Calliope]] system late in the war.<ref>Bishop, Chris (2002), [https://archive.org/stream/tractors-29177010-Encyclopedia-of-Weapons-of-World-War-II/29177010-Encyclopedia-of-Weapons-of-World-War-II#page/n165/mode/2up ''The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II''], Metrobooks, {{ISBN|978-1586637620}} (pp. 169-178)</ref>