Type 63 multiple rocket launcher

A Type 63 mounted on a pickup truck used by the IRGC

The launcher's 12 tubes are arranged in three removable rows of four each, mounted on a single-axle carriage with rubber tires. The Type 63 originally fired an 18.8 kilogram rocket (Type 63-2)[6] with a 1.3 kilogram warhead.[7] Ammunition for the Type 63 was later improved (Type 75 and Type 81 series), although the overall weight of the rocket remained the same.[5] A fixed amount of propellant is contained in the rocket motor. The steel-cased rocket is stabilized with spin imparted by six angled nozzles in its base. Type 63 rockets may be launched without the launcher; improvised firing can employ tubing, rails or even dirt berms.[8][9] The Type 63 was distributed on the basis of six per infantry regiment, or 18 per infantry division.[10] For airborne and mountain units the lighter Type 63-I was developed.[11]

Both the Type 63 and its copies can be mounted on different kinds of armoured and unarmoured vehicles, for example the MT-LB, the Safir, the Mamba, the RG-32 Scout, the GAZ-66 and the M113.

The Type 63 and its rockets are license-built in several countries including:

• Sudan – Taka.[12]
• Iran – Haseb-1 of D.I.O. with Fajr-1 rocket.[13]
• South Africa – RO 107 of Mechem Developments.[14]
• North Korea – Type 75.
• North Vietnam, Vietnam – H-12.
• Turkey – T-107 of MKEK with rockets TR-107 "Anadolu" and TRB-107.[15]
• Egypt – RL812/TLC of the Helwan Machinery and Equipment Factory (Factory 999).[16][17]

NATO and western sources have used the Soviet-style designation BM-12 to describe this weapon system, and further even ascribe Soviet origin and initial manufacture of both launcher and rockets.[18] However, there is no evidence in non-western sources of Soviet development or production, or of the BM-12 moniker being applied. Very similar Type 50-5 or Type 488 102mm rockets were manufactured in China and used in the Korean War prior to development of the Type 63.[19]

It appears the systems designated BM-12 (for example in Afghanistan and Libya) were or are all of Chinese origin, being merely used or cross-traded by Soviet interests.

A Type 63 used by Libyan rebels

•  Afghanistan[24]
•  Albania – 270.[20] Withdrawn from service.[25]
•  Azerbaijan
•  Burkina Faso – ~4 as of 2016[26]
•  Bosnia and Herzegovina – former user[20]
•  Cambodia[27]
•  Chad[28]
•  People's Republic of China[29]
•  Congo-Kinshasa – 12 as of 2016[30]
•  Djibouti[31]
•  Ethiopia – 25
•  Ghana – ~3 as of 2016[32]
•  Indonesia
•  Iran – 1,300 as of 2020[33]
  • Liwa Fatemiyoun[34]
•  Iraq[35]
  •  Iraqi Kurdistan
  •  Islamic State[4]
  • Popular Mobilization Forces[36]
•  Jordan
•  North Korea[37]
•  Lebanon
  • Lebanese Forces[38]
• Palestine Liberation Organisation[20]
•  Libya[39]
•  Mauritania – 4 as of 2016[40]
•  Malaysia- retired
•  Myanmar – 30 as of 2016[41]
•  Nicaragua – 33 as of 2016[42]
•  South Africa – (Launchers captured in Angola, rockets manufactured locally)[3]
•  South Sudan[43][4]
•  Sudan – 477 as of 2016[44]
•  Sri Lanka
•  Syria[45]
•  Turkey – Manufactured locally as TR-107.
•  Vietnam – Fielded during the Vietnam War.[46] 360 as of 2016[47]
•  Zimbabwe – 16 as of 2016[48]

• T-122 Sakarya
• Fajr-5

• (JAA) Jane's Armour and Artillery 1981–82, Christopher Foss (ed.), London: Jane's Publishing Company Ltd., 1981. ISBN 0-7106-0727-X.
• International Institute for Strategic Studies (February 2016). The Military Balance 2016. 116. Routlegde. ISBN 9781857438352.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Type 63 multiple rocket launcher.

• OrData report on 107-mm rocket projectile
• GlobalSecurity on the Type 63 and Type 81
• Mao’s Rockets and the Eastern Afghan Border War, Part I Part II Part III, article series about the use of Type 63 rockets in Afghanistan.