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To Root Out Ukrainian Missileers, Russia Could Deploy Trench-Smashing Thermobaric Rockets
Forbes ^ | Jan 3, 2022 | David Axe

Posted on 01/03/2022 5:54:48 PM PST by McGruff

Arguably the most frightening for Ukraine’s beleaguered defenders, hunkering in their trenches, are the Russian army’s TOS-1 rocket launchers. If the Russians roll west, the TOS-1s could shoot first, targeting the Ukrainians’ earthworks with their 220-millimeter thermobaric rockets.

Thermobaric munitions are uniquely destructive. They burst over their targets, spreading a fuel vapor, before exploding and igniting the fuel and creating a pressure wave that’s twice as powerful as that from a conventional artillery shell.

“A fuel-air explosive can have the effect of a tactical nuclear weapon without residual radiation,” Lester Grau and Timothy Smith explained in a 2000 article in Marine Corps Gazette.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 01/03/2022 5:54:48 PM PST by McGruff
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To: McGruff

Sure, some say 152-mm howitzer is good to hunt goose. Why not nukes?


2 posted on 01/03/2022 5:56:28 PM PST by NorseViking
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To: McGruff
30 Thermobaric Rocket Bombs in 15-Seconds - The Russian TOS-1 Flamethrower
3 posted on 01/03/2022 6:00:53 PM PST by \/\/ayne (I regret that I have but one subscription cancellation notice to give to my local newspaper)
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To: McGruff

Swiss aphorism: “shoot twice and go home.”


4 posted on 01/03/2022 6:07:23 PM PST by ctdonath2 (Statistics don't matter when they happen to you.)
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To: McGruff

Nothing surgical about Russian combat doctrine.


5 posted on 01/03/2022 6:09:36 PM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: Tijeras_Slim
Yeah but you gotta admit those Katyusha Rockets sounded really cool..


6 posted on 01/03/2022 6:12:11 PM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: McGruff

I always turn to “Forbes” for the latest in military tactics. Sheesh!


7 posted on 01/03/2022 6:15:31 PM PST by Tallguy
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To: dfwgator

Yep, knowing what was coming couldn’t have been pleasant.


8 posted on 01/03/2022 6:17:30 PM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: NorseViking

Russia ‘moves ATOMIC mortar that fires nukes & laser ...
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14582261/russia...


9 posted on 01/03/2022 6:42:26 PM PST by RomanSoldier19 (Res ad Triarios venit)
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To: McGruff

The Russians used thermobaric
artillery shells on the Ukrainians years ago with devastating results. I saw some pictures of those killed by them. Time for the Ukies to bring out their hidden nukes, the ones they didn’t turn over to their “allies”.


10 posted on 01/03/2022 7:35:46 PM PST by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper (Figures )
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