Ukraine is using so-called Dragon drones that are capable of the spitting of the flammable compound thermite The attacks on Russian positions appear to be rapidly gaining popularity, as more and more units release videos of them in action.
Thermite is primarily used in grenades and artillery shells, among other applications. It is a combination of oxidized iron and aluminum that burns at approximately 4,440 degrees Fahrenheit. The drones attack by spreading the compound over tree lines and other foliage under which the Russians are taking cover, as well as in trenches. By burning away the growth, the enemy is less protected, leaving them more exposed. By deploying it where troops are hiding, including trenches, it can kill anything exposed inside it and cut off oxygen and burn those not in direct contact with it.
It is a terrifying substance to say the least.
The 60th Mechanized Brigade released a video montage on Wednesday showing a drone filming another incendiary drone covering a Russian position along a tree line with burning thermite.
“Strike Drones are our wings of vengeance, they bring fire straight from the sky!” the brigade wrote on its Facebook page“They become a real threat to the enemy, burning down his positions with an accuracy that no other weapon can match.”
The unit then referred to Vidar, the Norse god of vengeance.
“If our ‘Vidar’ works, orcs will never sleep again,” the brigade wrote, using the derogatory Ukrainian term for Russian invaders based on the evil foot soldiers from JRR Tolkien’s famous works.
The 116th Khorne Group, another Ukrainian military unit, published a video of one of its thermite-dropping drones flying over a forested area. The unit complained about the recent appearance of these videos on social media.
“We are against anyone who shares new technologies to destroy the enemy in a video on the Internet,” Khorne Group complained on Telegram. “But it has already been done, so we share our video of orcs being burned with thermite ammunition.”
The 22-second video shows the drone, which resembles a comet with a smoky tail, setting a Russian position on fire. With plumes of smoke in the background, it appears to be one of several weapons deployed by Khorne Group in the area.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense (MoD) confirmed the use of these drones on Wednesday,
As we reported yesterday, the first video of one in action appeared on social media on Monday. Another appeared on Tuesday.
This new application of drone weapons differs from those of the past because it has a long range in a way that no other can, while also being incredibly accurate and posing no risk to the operator. A single drone can do immense damage during a thermite-spewing run, compared to the much more limited effects usually associated with small weaponized drones. The psychological impact of this weapon is also substantial.
While the potential effects on the battlefield are much more limited, the Russians also appear to be tinkering with the use of thermite-dropping drones. A video posted by the Ukrainian Landmines and Coffee Telegram channel claims to show such an attempt. It uses “igniter elements from a 120mm mortar mine,” Landminds and Coffee saidThe mortar shells contain thermite.
The 62-second video appeared to show a demonstration of the technology. The drone hovered a few feet above the ground, emitted a torrent of flames, and likely dropped thermite-containing submunitions. They created a small fire when they hit the ground. The video ended with the drone rising higher before crashing to the ground in flames.
The use of thermite in this war is not new. In May 2022, videos surfaced on social media that appeared to show Russia possibly using thermite artillery shells containing a thermite mixture to bomb Mariupol. A few months later, another video supposedly showing the Donetsk city of Marinka, hit by artillery shells filled with thermite. In both cases, the fiery cloud fell from the sky and indiscriminately burned a large area. You can see the Marinka attack in the video below.
Thermite has also been used in drone-dropped grenades. Videos from the time show that they were primarily used as a method of finishing off damaged vehicles and other equipment.
Steel Hornets, a manufacturer of drone weapons from Kiev, started promoting them online.
“A lot of questions have been asked recently about incendiary ammunition,” Steel Hornets said in April on Telegram. “It is necessary to understand that this is not a thermobar, it does not explode, but burns. It is designed to be dropped from a drone from a height of up to 30 m.”
The ammunition is designed to ignite in flight once fired.
“If it lands where there is no reason to burn, it will not set fire to anything,” Steel Hornets wrote. “The higher the drop, the greater the chance of a bounce from the impact site. If it burns on inclined surfaces, the molten metal will flow and the combustion will be worse.”
The munition can also be used with kamikaze drones, Steel Hornets noted at the time. You can see this type of munition being dropped by Ukraine’s Birds of Magyar unit in the following video from February.
The use of thermite as a weapon is not specifically prohibited under the Geneva Convention.
“The Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons (Protocol III) aims to protect civilians and civilian objects from the use of such weapons. It prohibits the targeting of civilians and restricts the targeting of military objects located in populated areas. The Protocol also prohibits the use of incendiary weapons against forests or other vegetation, unless the vegetation is used to conceal military objects.”
Human Rights Watch criticized these exceptions as ‘loopholes’ in the Geneva Convention.
“Incendiary weapons contain various chemical compounds, such as napalm or thermite, that ignite and cause significant human suffering at the moment of the attack and in the weeks, months and even years that follow,” the organization said.
It’s unclear when the concept of using drones to spread streams of thermite was developed or when it was first deployed. However, from the Khorne Group’s complaints about it being exposed online, it seems like it’s been around for a while and that first video opened the floodgates.
More videos like this are likely to emerge in the coming days. It’s another iterative step in a conflict that has become a kind of field laboratory for weapons development, particularly those related to unmanned technologies.
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com
