The S8 is an 80mm family of unguided rockets developed by the Soviet Union and still in service today. Developed in the 1970s there is a whole range of different types of warheads for the rockets and the S8s are most commonly seen being fired from both Russian and Ukrainian helicopters or Su-25s. We typically see both sides firing salvos of the rockets by pitching up the aircraft and launching, while this no doubt more inaccurate than firing them directly onto a ground target, as originally intended, the practice does keep the valuable aircraft somewhat out of the range of opposing air defences and must have some effect downrange as the practice has continued since the first weeks of the war.

This week, however, a video of an improvised launcher developed to be fired from the shoulder emerged, seemingly developed by Russian personnel. We can see that the launcher has a pair of pistol grips, a shield made from four planks of wood with a small hole and a plastic screen tacked in place. An electrical box is also mounted on the shield, possibly containing a battery, with a cable tube running to the rear of the launch tube, ostensibly to ignite the rocket motor. It appears that there may be a trigger on the front grip. An individual in the video providing commentary states that the connection is ‘absolutely safe’. The launch tube appears to have at least one bracket welded to it for securing the shield. How the launcher is aimed is unclear, but the individual filming states that they are testing the principle and still need to make some refinements.

The S8’s rocket burns for approximately 0.7 seconds, generating around 5,800 Newtons of thrust. Depending on the variant of rocket used the rocket has a velocity of around 450 m/s, some variants are faster, this is around 4x faster than a conventional shoulder-fired rocket system, an RPG-22 for example has a muzzle velocity of approximately 130 m/s.

The clip shows the firer shoulder the weapon and fire, the launch is successful with the launcher operating as expected but the recoil from the extremely fast moving rocket was considerable. The exhaust gases also appear to have acted on the shield pushing it back against the operator. The launcher flies completely out of the operators hands just after launching, with the shield – designed to protect against rocket’s exhaust gases, apparently striking him in the face. The individual filming continues to track the flight of the rocket and the firer is not shown again.

The idea of shoulder launching an S8 has been explored before in Chechnya and elsewhere but unless the force of the launch can be mitigated then the results are the same. Ground improvisation with S8 rockets isn’t uncommon with lots of improvised multiple-launch rocket systems (DIY MLRS) being used by both sides, these typically use pre-existing rocket pods mounted on vehicles. This is a topic for a future article/video. A single S8 launch tube on a mount or tripod, where the danger to the operator is minimised, might have useful applications, similar mounts have already been developed to fire Grad rockets with some degree of accuracy.

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