What is "grau"

The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (GRAU) is a department of the Russian (ex- Soviet) Ministry of Defense. 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). The "R" from "rockets" was added to the title in 1960.

In particular, the GRAU is responsible for assigning GRAU indices to Russian army munitions and equipment.

Arsenals of the GRAU, according to Kommersant-Vlast in 2005, include the 60th at Kaluga, the 55th at Rzhev, the 75th at Serpukhov south of Moscow, (all three in the Moscow Military District) and the 80th at Gagarskiy, the 116th at Krasno-Oktyabrskiy and the 5th, all in the Volga–Urals Military District.

As of March 2014, the current Chief of the GRAU is Lieutenant General Nikolay Parshin.

Grau is a common surname used in Catalan language, and can also be found in German language. It is a Catalan word meaning " grade", coming from the Latin word gradus. It is also a German word meaning " gray".