New Delhi: Fire rained on Russian-held positions in the occupied Kharkiv region when Ukrainian drones dropped thermite incendiary bombs, burning trees and reportedly some Russian military vehicles. Footages of fire-spewing ‘Dragon Drone’ have emerged on various Telegram channels.
A series of videos posted on social media, including on Telegram from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry on Wednesday, show the low-flying drones dropping torrents of fire – actually molten metal – onto Russian-held positions in tree lines, CNN reported.
What’s a Dragon Drone?
The white-hot mixture of aluminium powder and iron oxide, called thermite, burns at temperatures up to 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,200 degrees Celsius). It can quickly burn off trees and vegetation giving cover to Russian troops, if not killing or disabling the troops outright.
As it falls from the drone, the thermite resembles the fire coming from the mouth of the mythical dragon, giving the drones their nickname.
“Strike Drones are our wings of vengeance, bringing fire straight from the sky! They become a real threat to the enemy, burning his positions with an accuracy that no other weapon can achieve. When our ‘Vidar’ works – the Russian woman will never sleep a social media post from Ukraine’s 60th Mechanized Brigade said.
Vidar is the Norse god of vengeance.
Creating that kind of fear is likely the main effect of Ukraine’s thermite drones, according to Nicholas Drummond, a defense industry analyst specialising in land warfare and a former British Army officer.
“It is very nasty stuff. Using a drone to deliver it is quite innovative. But used in that way its effect will have been psychological more than physical,” Drummond told CNN.
“I understand that Ukraine only possesses a limited capacity to deliver a thermite effect, so this is a niche capability rather than new mainstream weapon,” he said. But he acknowledges the terror thermite can create. “I would not have liked to have been on the receiving end,” Drummond said.
Incendiary weapons in war
Thermite can easily burn through almost anything, including metal, so there’s little protection from it. It was discovered by a German chemist is the 1890s and was originally used to weld railroad tracks.
But its military potency soon became apparent, with the Germans dropping it from zeppelins as bombs over Britain in World War I, according to a history from McGill University in Montreal.
Both Germany and the Allies used thermite aerial bombs in World War II, and they also utilized it to disable captured artillery pieces, putting thermite into the breech and melting the weapon shut from the inside.
Ukraine has previously used thermite dropped from drones to permanently disable Russian tanks, CNN reported, quoting Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), a British anti-war advocacy group. The thermite is dropped “directly through the hatches, where the intense heat quickly ignites and destroys everything inside,” according to an AOAV report
This precision, combined with the drone’s ability to bypass traditional defenses, makes thermite bombs a highly effective tool in modern warfare,” it says. Thermite is just one type of incendiary weapon, with others including napalm and white phosphorus. The United Nations Office for Disarmament says incendiary weapons can cause massive destruction and environmental damage.
“The fires produced by the weapon itself or ignited by it are difficult to predict and to contain. Therefore, incendiary weapons are often described as ‘area weapons’ due to their impact over a broad area,” it says on its website.
.What thermite does to humans
Under international law, thermite is not banned for military combat, but its use on civilian targets is prohibited because of the horrible effects it can have on the human body.
In a 2022 report on incendiary weapons, such as thermite, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called them “notorious for their horrific human cost,” including inflicting fourth- or fifth-degree burns.
“They can cause damage to muscles, ligaments, tendons, nerves, blood vessels, and even bones,” HRW said.
Treatment can last months and require daily attention. If victims survive, they are left with physical and psychological scars, HRW said.
