The drone innovators in Ukraine are at it again, this time rigging an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to rain fire from above. Video from Ukraine’s 108th Territorial Brigade was recently posted online, depicting a scene along the front lines between Russia and Ukraine in the Zaporizhzia region. It shows a drone showering down what looks like thermite on a tree line.
As the drone makes its way across the tops of the trees, its incendiary payload falls down below, burning anything it touches. Some secondary explosions can also be seen in the video.
Much of the fighting in Ukraine is in agricultural areas where tree lines offer some of the only cover for troops. So, this new tactic of clearing those tree lines with fire falling from drones could be employed more frequently in the weeks and months ahead.
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Other videos from Ukraine’s armed forces show troops experimenting with thermite, which is a mixture of metal powder and metal oxide. When ignited, it essentially creates a molten metal that can reach temperatures of around 4,500 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s more than twice as hot as the liquid magma spewed from a volcano.
These thermite-dropping drones, nicknamed “Dragon’s Breath” by some, are the latest in a series of unmanned aerial innovations by the Ukrainians. Last fall, Straight Arrow News reported on the Ukrainian effort to drop anti-tank mines onto Russian positions with drones; mines which were gathered from Russian minefields and repurposed.
And earlier this year, Ukraine began attaching anti-personnel mines similar to Claymores to its drones, creating clouds of steel rain over Russian soldiers. Russia followed suit and began making similar devices.
And of course, there’s the new rocket-drone Ukraine is producing, the “Palianytsia.” Virtually everything about that weapon is classified right now, but it’s basically a small cruise missile, and two dozen Russian air bases are within its range of attack.
