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Russian chemial bombs
- Thread starter MINENAZ16
- Start date
Taken at Shikhany in 1987. The USSR invited delegates of the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament to see Soviet chemical munitions! They displayed a range of projectiles, bombs, warheads and miscellaneous items such as grenades.
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Hans de Vreij was a photographer on the visit. He’s made images available on a flickr album https://www.flickr.com/photos/78157836@N08/albums/72157671339951414
Eggburt1969
Well-Known Member
I had seen quite a few of the images before, due to previously being the co-editor of a couple of the Jane's books that covered NBC (Nuclear Chemical Biological) and later CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Nuclear, Radiological, and Explosives) things, but didn't know the images source.
I don't really cover the subject any more, but I'm pretty sure the Russian's officially destroyed their stocks of chemical weapons in 2017 (link).
As such we will hopefully never see any of the munitions shown above. I can probably ID some of them if people are interested, this as I've still got a lot of reference material on the subject.
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From the left I have these as.
100kg bomb - designation unknown
250kg bomb - either 9-A-423 or 9-A-725 depending on payload
250kg bomb - 9-A-164
500kg spray tank - 3845
1500kg spray tank - 9-00432 or 9-002325 or 9-00431 or 9-003424
100kg bomb - designation unknown
250kg bomb - either 9-A-423 or 9-A-725 depending on payload
250kg bomb - 9-A-164
500kg spray tank - 3845
1500kg spray tank - 9-00432 or 9-002325 or 9-00431 or 9-003424
The Scud warhead is 884mm and has the designation 8F44G1
As an interesting side note, one of the former Soviets (Belorussian) that I used to work with was responsible as a young officer for the setup of this display. All of the displayed weapons were repainted prior, with the markings changed from the correct original. Also, he said that the senior officers wanted everything at the full weight. The weather turned very cold just before, and according to him they only liquid they had in sufficient quantity that wasn't considered hazardous was vodka. He said that after the end of the exposition there was a bit of a party...
There was a US visit as a part of this, to Tooele Depot.
There was a US visit as a part of this, to Tooele Depot.
Eggburt1969
Well-Known Member
I can't really read most of what's in the images, so can't say which they are, but here are some additional details to what was already in your posts. So their known other designations - other than the Russian Air Force and other codes you had already given - and what's stated in Russian reference materials I have to be within them.
'100' kg bomb = possibly a KhAB-100-80S (ХАБ-100-80С) = a 100 kg-class aerial bomb filled with a mixture of mustard gas and lewisite
'250 kg bomb 9-A-164' = 9-A-164 (its GUAS index code) = OBAS-250-235P (its bomb designation) = a 250 kg-class aerial bomb filled with R-35 (aka Sarin)
'250 kg bomb 9-A-423' = 9-A-423 = BAS-250M62 (other sources say BAS-250M62P) = a 250 kg-class aerial bomb filled with VR-55 (viscous Soman)
'250 kg bomb 9-A-725' = 9-A-725 = OBAS-250KS = a 250 kg-class aerial bomb filled with R-33 (Russian V-agent)
'3845' = 500–280S (3845) = BAS-500–280S = a 500 kg-class aerial bomb filled with RK-7, a mixture of mustard gas and lewisite
9-00431 = 1500–900S = BAS-1500–900S = a 1,500 kg-class aerial bomb filled with RK-7, a mixture of mustard gas and lewisite
9-00432 = 1500–900SV = a 1,500 kg-class aerial bomb filled with VRK-7, a viscous mixture of mustard gas and lewisite
9-002325 = 1500–965SV = a 1,500 kg-class aerial bomb filled with VRK-7, a viscous mixture of mustard gas and lewisite
9-003424 = 1500–965S = BAS-1500–965S = a 1,500 kg-class aerial bomb filled with RK-7, a mixture of mustard gas and lewisite
8F44G-1 = VR-33 (viscous Russian V-agent)
Eggburt1969
Well-Known Member
Oooh, nice image with markings
Eggburt1969
Well-Known Member
As far as I can tell they are PAS-500KhS (ПАС-500ХС) modules, aka 9-EK-3264 (9-ЕК-3264) if you want their Russian Air Force index code.
Twelve are used within the PAS-500NS.9 (ПАС-500НС.9) spray device, aka the 9-A-3264 (9-А-3264).
An image of the PAS-500NS.9 is below, along with some PAS-500KhS by the look of it.
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Yes that’s the correct spray tank. Nice image which I haven’t seen before. Warhead for the 540mm FROG in the background.
Eggburt1969
Well-Known Member
I saw the large warhead to the upper right, but didn't think about ID'ing it, mainly as I was quite tired.
I can just about make out the text, so a 9N18G (9Н18Г) warhead. This reportedly contained quite a lot (≈215 kg) of the nerve agent R-33 (Р-33), aka 'VR'.
The 9N18G warhead is part of the 9M21G (9М21Г) unguided surface-to-surface rocket of the 9K52 (9К52) Luna-M (Луны-М) system. For the NATO name orientated, a FROG-7B, also seen as FROG-7b, which is short for 'Free Rocket Over Ground' model/variant/etc. 'B' ('b').