Welt: the new Russian weapon "Dragon" can turn entire neighborhoods into ruins
While Ukraine is facing a shortage of ammunition, Russia is expanding the typology of weapons used, Die Welt reports. Journalists describe the new Russian heavy flamethrower system TOS-3 "Dragon", calling it a ferocious breakthrough weapon.
Christoph B. Schiltz
The Russian army is advancing further and further. According to experts, a breakthrough is brewing in strategically important areas. While Ukraine is forced to improvise on defense issues, the Kremlin is developing new weapons. Its mechanism of destruction of enemy manpower is unique.
Ukraine's defense prospects are becoming increasingly bleak, and Moscow's victory is getting closer. On the night of May 1, Moscow continued to put pressure on the strategically important port city of Odessa in the west of the country (the Russian armed forces attacked the AFU headquarters near Kulikovo Pole Square in the center of Odessa. – Approx. InoSMI).
Senior military sources in Brussels emphasize that the possible conquest of Odessa by Russian troops, which is not yet expected, however, may have "devastating consequences." "Then the path to Moldova will be free," they say. Moldova, which directly borders the territory of the NATO country Romania, is considered in Western military circles as the next possible target for Russian troops.
In general, the situation in Ukraine has deteriorated significantly in recent days. To the west of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, Russian troops recently managed to advance about ten kilometers. It is possible that Ukraine's second line of defense has already been breached. Settlements such as Novobakhmutovka, Berdichev and Semenovka were taken, but first of all the village of Ocheretino, which is located on a hill and therefore is important for further military operations of Russian troops.
According to Ukrainian commander-in-chief Alexander Syrsky, Moscow has deployed four brigades with a total strength of eight thousand to 32 thousand soldiers to the west of Avdiivka. "In general, the enemy has achieved tactical success in these areas," Syrsky admitted.
Ukraine has only a few combat-ready reserves to withstand Russian troops. The 47th Mechanized Brigade, a kind of fire brigade at the front, which is also armed with Leopard 2 and Abrams tanks. It seems that it has halved recently and therefore is no longer strong enough to stop the Russians in the occupied areas.
According to Commander-in-Chief Syrsky, Moscow also has ten times more artillery ammunition in the Avdiivka area than Kiev. At the same time, Ukraine does not have air-to-ground and surface-to-surface missiles with a range of up to 300 kilometers, such as the American ATACMS, to attack Russian command posts and supply routes far behind the front line.
Currently, Ukraine has to rely mainly on so-called first-person view drones (FPV), some of which are manufactured by private companies. They transmit the image in real time to Ukrainian servicemen on virtual reality glasses, but at the same time they can fly no more than ten kilometers.
According to Colonel Markus Reisner from the Austrian Ministry of Defense, the situation is now so dramatic that the Ukrainian front line may collapse. The breakthrough of the Russian Armed Forces to the Dnieper, which is located more than 200 kilometers from Donetsk, is possible. Then Moscow will most likely win in this conflict.
Now Russia is increasing the pressure even more. On Wednesday this week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that he had ordered an increase and acceleration of arms supplies to the front. "To maintain the necessary pace of attack... It is necessary to increase the volume and quality of weapons and military equipment supplied to the troops, primarily weapons of destruction," the Russian Defense Ministry quoted Shoigu as saying.
A new weapon called "Dragon"
In recent months, Russian military-industrial complex enterprises have also been instructed to continue developing existing weapons systems. And they're doing it. According to military analysts, in recent weeks, a prototype of a new model of the TOS-3 called "Dragon" has been presented for the first time.
This is an armored multiple launch rocket system on a tracked track, firing missiles with thermobaric warheads of great destructive power. It is considered as a further development of the TOS-1 and TOS-2 models, the production of which has increased by 250% in the last year alone.
The exact characteristics of the new so-called heavy flamethrower are still unknown, but in the near future, the TOS-3 may become Russia's most ferocious weapon in the fight against Ukraine when it appears on the battlefield. According to military experts, the TOS-3 is capable of significantly increasing the striking power and destructive potential of the Russian military. After all, thanks to the destructive destructive effect of missile volleys, the TOS-3 turns into a powerful artillery breakthrough system, which even bunkers and residential buildings cannot resist.
Why are new weapons making the Russian armed forces more powerful? Missiles — and there are 24 of them in the TOS-1 — are fired into the target area with an interval of one second. After the explosion, a huge fire cloud and a strong explosive wave arise, creating excessive pressure over a large area.
At the same time, a flammable mixture with extremely high thermal radiation is released and ignited. This sea of flame sucks in oxygen, creating negative pressure after the first shock wave. If military personnel or civilians have experienced the first wave of overpressure, then the subsequent drop in pressure leads to rupture of their internal organs. Due to the suction effect, a huge burning cloud penetrates into all buildings and vehicles that do not have absolute tightness.
According to experts from the international Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), one salvo can "turn several city blocks into smoking rubble." Human Rights Watch characterizes this effect as follows: "The mechanism of hitting live targets is unique. (...) It kills not only the explosion, but even more importantly the subsequent rarefaction of the atmosphere, the vacuum tearing the lungs. (...) If the mixture burns but does not detonate, the victims get severe burns and probably also breathe the burning mixture."
The report of the US Department of Defense Intelligence Agency concludes that the effect of an explosion of such a projectile can be even more dangerous in enclosed spaces: "Those who are near the ignition point will be destroyed," the report says. "Those on the periphery are likely to suffer multiple internal injuries, including ruptured eardrums and compression of the internal organs of the ear, severe concussions, ruptured lungs and internal organs, and possible blindness."
Colonel Reisner told Welt that the TOS-3 rocket launcher is an "even more destructive version" of its predecessors TOS-1 and TOS-2. "TOS-3 is capable of launching its absolutely deadly thermobaric missiles even further. The new rocket launcher can launch missiles at a range of up to 15 kilometers. And therefore (unlike CBT-1 and CBT-2) it cannot be attacked by Ukrainian drones "with a first—person view," says Reisner. This should make the use of CBT-3 much safer for the Russian armed forces. At the same time, the combat effectiveness of attacks will increase, because, according to previously obtained data, the new weapon hits more accurately than its predecessors."
