The TOS-1 Buratino is the world’s only Russian MLRS self-propelled system that has seen global action in conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Chechnya, Iraq, and Syria.
The specialty of TOS-1 is the eliminating of heavily fortified positions.
It has gained a uniquely terrifying reputation because of the impact it causes on any enemy force found against it due to the incendiary type of ammunition it launches as a modern “greek fire”
The pressure created by a TOS-1 explosion amounts to 427 pounds per square inch.
To make it more understandable, most conventional bomb explosions generate about half that amount, and the normal air pressure is fourteen pounds per square inch.
Victims near the center of a TOS-1 blast range are crushed to death.
Further out, overpressure can break bones, dislocate eyes, cause internal bleeding, and break drums, intestines, and other internal organs.
It also absorbs air from the lungs of its victims, possibly causing them to collapse, leading to death by suffocation.
The first war use of the TOS-1 Buratino was recorded between 1988 and 1989 against Afghan rebels in the rugged terrain of the Panjshir Valley.
However, in 1999, the same year that TOS-1 was first officially revealed to the public, TOS-1 first made its name in the siege of the Chechen capital Grozny.
The use of TOS-1a to eliminate entire building blocks by the Russian army in Grozny has sparked a series of complaints about collateral damage.
In fact, in a coordinated TOS-1 bombardment with other artillery units, it killed thirty-seven civilians and wounded more than two hundred.
By the time the battle for Grozny was over, the city had turned into a ruin.
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