:S-24 rocket

{{Short description|Soviet-designed rocket weapon}}

File:S24B maks2009.jpg 2009.]]

The S-24 is a rocket weapon designed and used by the Soviet Air Force. It remains in use by the Russian Aerospace Forces, Ukrainian Air Force and many export countries. The name is based on the diameter of the rocket, {{convert|24|cm|in|abbr=on}}.

The Soviet Union was an enthusiastic user of rocket weapons, employing them as early as the 1930s. The S-24/S-24B is a very large, powerful unguided weapon and one of a handful of successors to the earlier World War II-era BETAB-750DS rockets.{{cite web|url=http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/Research/Ordnance/Betab/|title=Modeling the VVS: VVS Rockets, Bombs, Ord|website=vvs.hobbyvista.com|access-date=21 April 2018}}

The S-24B differs from the S-24 in that it uses BN-K low smoke motor powder for a low-smoke flight.{{cite journal |date=2014|title=М-Хобби|volume=2/2014 |trans-title=M-Hobby №2/2014|publisher=«Цейхгауз» publishing house Ltd. |language=ru |issn=0236-0586}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.airwar.ru/weapon/anur/s24.html|title=С-24}}{{cite book |date=2010|title=Оборонные предприятия СССР и России |trans-title=Defense enterprises of the USSR and Russia |publisher=«Том» publishing house |language=ru |isbn=978-5-903603-03-9}}

The S-24 is {{convert|2.33|m|ftin}} long, with a launch weight of {{convert|235|kg|lb|abbr=on|sigfig=2}}. It has a {{convert|123|kg|lb|abbr=on|adj=on}} blast-fragmentation warhead. Its range is about {{convert|2|-|3|km|mi}}. The S-24 is carried individually on weapon hardpoints, rather than in pods.

Proximity fuze RV-24 is also available, in which the warhead detonate 3 meters above ground, creating 300–400 m radius of fragmentation casualty zone. The body is mesh-texture shape-hardened by electric treatment and creates 4000 fragments that can penetrate up to 30 millimeters of armor, though some sources dispute this and give a figure of 25 millimeters.

The rocket is also license produced in Iran under the name of Shafaq.{{cite web |url=http://www.iranwatch.org/suspect/records/aerospace-industries-organization-%28aio%29.html |title=Iranian Entity: Aerospace Industries Organization (AIO)|website=www.iranwatch.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120107030715/http://www.iranwatch.org/suspect/records/aerospace-industries-organization-%28aio%29.html |archive-date=January 7, 2012}}{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20120905180352/http://www.modlex.ir/cgi-bin/store.pl/page=product.html/pid=MXF05-000310 Article title]}}