Drone strikes signal a turning point against Russia's feared thermobaric weapons

A pilot of a drone type, "Baba Jaga" or Revolver 860, attacked in the Krasnohorivka region the alarming Russian TOS-1A system and the BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle. Here are the capabilities of one of the most terrifying Russian weapons used in Ukraine.

In the vicinity of Krasnohorivka, Ukrainian drone pilots attacked and managed to destroy or at least significantly damage the Russian heavy flamethrower TOS-1A using 60mm calibre mortar projectiles dropped from the drone Baba Jaga or the Taiwanese Revolver 860 of the same type.

We are talking about heavy industrial or agricultural drones adapted to carry a few kilograms of payload, such as 60mm calibre mortar projectiles dropped on the Russians from at least several dozen meters away. In the case of the latest versions, Ukrainians have already started installing thermal imaging cameras on them, as was the case with the Revolver 860 drones received from Taiwan.

It should be emphasized that even a single loss of the TOS-1A system for the Russian side is severe, considering that before the conflict began, they only had about 50 units of this weapon. Thanks to thermobaric charges, these special-purpose systems can eliminate enemy units hidden in even the strongest fortified positions.

The TOS-1A systems integrated into the Russian army's arsenal during the intervention in Afghanistan demonstrate very high effectiveness in combating opponents hiding in various kinds of fortifications or urban environments.

The key element of this system is a launcher of 24 unguided rockets of 220mm diameter mounted on the very widespread T-72 tank chassis. Each loaded rocket contains up to 45kg of thermobaric material, providing a tremendous destructive force that is extremely difficult to shield against.

Thermobaric charges significantly differ from conventional ones, as they do not contain oxygen within their structure and, at the same mass, can contain more active (combustible) substances. However, oxygen from the air is required for combustion and explosion reactions, creating a vacuum at the point of impact.

This carries significant repercussions, as, besides the classic shock wave spreading outward, there are also inward rebound waves resulting from the created vacuum, causing huge pressure spikes reaching hundreds of pounds per square inch. They are powerful enough to damage even the skin of aircraft, let alone soft tissues like lungs.

It's worth noting that the human brain is relatively well protected by the skull, so people unlucky enough to be in the strike zone die in agony. Other effects of the explosion beyond pressure spikes and oxygen consumption in the area include temperatures of even up to 3000 degrees Celsius at the epicenter, causing everything alive to vaporize.

Due to these effects, thermobaric weapons have also been labeled "the poor man's nuclear weapon," as the scale of injuries, not counting the lack of radiation, is similar. Moreover, the devastating effects of this weapon are amplified in enclosed spaces, where shockwaves enter resonance.

The explosion of thermobaric warheads occurs in two stages: initially, the thermobaric aerosol is dispersed, and then a delayed fuse triggers the ignition of the resulting mixture in the air. However, for Ukrainians, a plus is that the TOS-1A systems have a very short range, reaching a maximum of approximately 6 kilometers, and their accuracy is not the best due to the lack of any guidance system in the rockets.

This, combined with their very distinctive appearance, makes the TOS-1A launcher a priority target for all drone operators and operators of anti-tank guided missiles such as the Stugna-P. It also doesn't take much to turn the enormous force against the crew, as just damaging one of the not-very well-protected rockets in the launchers can trigger a chain reaction and a massive explosion.