Main Missile and Artillery Directorate

It is subordinate to the Chief of Armament and Munition of the Russian Armed Forces, a vice-minister of defense.

The organization dates back to 1862 when it was established under the name Главное артиллерийское управление (ГАУ – GAU).

[citation needed] Arsenals of the GRAU, according to Kommersant-Vlast in 2005, included the 53rd at Dzerzhinsk, Nizhniy Novogorod Oblast, the 55th in the Sklad-40 microraion at Rzhev, the 60th at Kaluga, the 63rd at Lipetsk, the 75th at Serpukhov south of Moscow, and the 97th at Skolin (all five in the Moscow Military District).

An additional possibly disused arsenal in the Moscow Military District is the 107th at Toropets.

[note 1] The first part of a GRAU index is a number indicating which of the several main categories of equipment a given item belongs to.

Satellite imagery of the Lipetsk arsenal
On 4 September 2024 at 00:35:00 ( UTC ) NASA 's FIRMS detected a fire around the railroad tracks at the entrance to the 93rd GRAU arsenal near Kuzhenkino