The M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System is a powerful American artillery system that has been proven on the Ukrainian battlefield. In France, the M270 is known as the LRU, the European variant of the M270A1 related to Germany, France, and Italy.
A statement from the office of Ukraine’s defense minister says that France has given Ukraine more heavy rocket launchers. It is now part of the Ukrainian military and is ready to be used against Russian forces.
On November 19, 2022, France said it would give Ukraine two LRU rocket launchers. Since the war started, other countries, such as the UK, Norway, and Germany, have given Ukraine similar weapons systems.
The French launchers have the European Fire Control System, which Airbus Defense and Space made. This system stops the firing of rockets that carry submunition so that the Convention on Cluster Munitions is fully followed.
France is improving its M270s to fire the 227 mm M31 high explosive (HE) unitary warhead Guided MLRS (GMLRS). The French Army had a fleet of 55 M270s.
Only 13 units are getting the LRU configuration upgrade, while the rest are being taken out of service. The LRU program takes care of the need to do precise ground strikes in any weather, up to 70 km away.
The M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System is a self-propelled, armored, multiple rocket launcher based on the chassis of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. In 1983, the first M270s were given to the military.
Several NATO countries and other countries later bought the MLRS. The United States first used the MLRS in the 1991 Gulf War. More than 700,000 rockets and 1,300 M270 systems have been made in the United States and Europe. The last M270s were sent to the Egyptian Army in 2003, the last year they were made.
The French LRU is powered by a Cummins VTA-903 turbocharged 8-cylinder diesel engine with 500 hp and a General Dynamics Land Systems HMPT-500 hydro-mechanical transmission. The car can go up to a top speed of 65 km/h on the road and has a top range of 480 km.