Turkmenistan has signed a $70 million contract with Russia to buy six Smerch multi launch rocket systems (MLRS), a Russian business daily said on Tuesday.

Kommersant said that under the contract, the first major military-technical deal with Ashgabat in the past decade, the Smerch manufacturer, OAO Motovilikhinskiye Zavody, will deliver the first two systems before the end of this year and the other four next year.

The manufacturer said it would also complete deliveries of Smerch systems to India in July under a $300 million contract.

The plant previously supplied 30 Smerch systems to India, worth an estimated $450 million.

The 300mm Smerch rocket has an effective range of 70-90km. One rocket cluster contains 72 submunitions, each weighing 2 kg. Its impact angle is strictly vertical: 90 degrees.

A cone of such "meteorites" easily pierces the turrets and top shielding of armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, self-propelled gun mounts, and even tank transmission compartments where the armor is not thick.