2024-09-06 10:21:28
The Ukrainians are probably increasingly using drones equipped with thermite charges for frontline attacks. The footage shows drones dropping a highly flammable substance on tree lines between fields where enemy troops may be hiding. This is another innovative way of using drones in combat.
Several videos show the use of a drone with an incendiary mixture of thermite | Video: X/OSINTtechnical
The first video of the attack surfaced on social media on Monday. It received extraordinary interest from the media – drones have never been seen in such a role. The aforementioned attack was carried out at an unknown location in eastern Ukraine by the 108th Independent Territorial Defense Brigade. The drone “sprayed” the trees with a flammable mixture, causing a fire and explosions.
Thermite is an incendiary mixture of powdered aluminum and iron oxide. During the reaction, it reaches temperatures higher than two thousand degrees Celsius. However, it has limited use as a weapon, unlike other compounds that burn instantly, thermite takes a longer time to heat up. It is therefore suitable, for example, for the complete destruction of abandoned equipment.
Other posts published this week confirm that the footage of the 108th Separate Brigade is not exceptional. More videos showing the use of the tactic emerged on social media on Wednesday. They were published by the 60th mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian army. The video shows the drone spewing a stream of molten thermite into the tree line at night, leaving a trail of fire behind it.
The Khorne Group, part of Ukraine’s 116th Mechanized Brigade, also shared footage showing a fiery drone setting fire to the forest below. The unit wrote about the video that under normal circumstances it does not share videos with new technologies on the Internet. In this case, there was nothing to hide anymore, so this unit also showed a drone with a termite in action.
It is unclear how much damage the termite-carrying drones are causing to Russian forces. However, it seems that these incendiary-launching drones have relatively limited combat utility apart from attacks on the aforementioned tree lines. But they play an important role in war – they often separate large fields and provide Russian troops with shelter for their artillery or armored vehicles.
Kiev and Moscow have long been fighting over who will dominate the development of unmanned aircraft. Videos released this week of fire-breathing drones signal that Ukraine’s drone programs are showing a slight edge.
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