Oleg Vorotnikov

It has often been assumed that the first automobile-mounted multiple rocket launcher was the famous «Katyusha» developed in the USSR on the eve of World War II. The author has discovered, however, that rockets mounted on a car were already in use in France during World War I for the purposes of air defense. Rockets were capable of reaching the altitude of 3 km and thus relatively effective against dirigibles. There is no indication, however, of any thought of using a similar device as field artillery around the time of WWI.