“During the massive drone attacks against Ukraine, the Russians began using lethal thermobaric drones along with large numbers of non-explosive decoy drones. Source: Associated Press Details: According to the article, a plant in the Russian special economic zone “Alabuga” recently began producing thermobaric drones along with decoys.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Source: Associated Press
Details: According to the material, a plant in the Russian special economic zone “Alabuga” recently started producing thermobaric drones along with decoys.
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Thermobaric warheads create a vortex of high pressure and temperature that can penetrate thick walls. They suck up all the oxygen in their path and have a terrible reputation for causing injuries beyond the original blast site: lung damage, eyeballs, brain damage.
According to a person familiar with Russian drone production, Russia developed a decoy plan in late 2022 and codenamed it Operation False Target. The idea was to launch armed drones along with dozens of decoys, sometimes stuffed with rags or Styrofoam, that are indistinguishable on radar from those carrying real bombs. Thus, Ukrainian forces must make split-second decisions about how to spend limited resources to save lives and preserve critical infrastructure.
This interlocutor, as well as Ukrainian electronics expert Serhii Beskrestnov, told the publication that decoy drones make up more than half of the drones targeting Ukraine.
Beskrestnov, better known as “Flash”, said that thermobaric drones were first used in the summer and that, according to his estimates, they now make up 3% to 5% of all drones used against Ukraine.
“This type of ammunition has the ability to destroy a huge building, especially a high-rise. And it is very effective if the Russian Federation tries to attack our power plants,” he said.
Thanks to optical trickery, the radar cannot tell the difference between a drone armed with a conventional 50-kilogram explosive payload or thermobaric weapon from a drone without a warhead or equipped with live surveillance cameras. Therefore, even knowing that baits now make up most of the swarm, Ukraine cannot afford to miss anything.
“To us, it’s just a dot on the radar… It has speed, direction, and altitude. We have no way of identifying the exact target in flight, so we have to either jam them with electronic warfare or use firepower to neutralize them. The enemy uses this is to divert our attention,” said Air Force representative Colonel Yuriy Ignat.
What preceded: Earlier, Defense express reported that Russia has begun to mass-use a thermobaric warhead on Shahed-136 type strike drones, which poses a much greater threat when striking buildings.
Read also: Now not only “Shakhedi”. How Russia increased the production of attack UAVs and how Ukrainian engineers respond