Ukrainian troops blow up Russia’s heavy flamethrower in huge explosion

Ukrainian artillery reportedly blew up a Russian TOS-1A heavy flamethrower in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

The Ukraine Weapons Tracker OSINT group reported that a Russian TOS-1A system was destroyed by Ukrainian counter-battery fire utilizing M109A6 Paladin 155mm self-propelled howitzers.

For the uninitiated, the TOS-1A Solntsepek artillery system uses rockets with thermobaric, or fuel-air explosive, warheads. Thermobaric rockets use up oxygen from the surrounding air to produce a high-temperature explosion of a significantly longer duration than that of a traditional blast.

“They will kill not just in the direct vicinity of the impact,” Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense and CIA officer, told Foreign Policy. “It [will] suck the oxygen out of the air and out of the lungs of people nearby. It is horrendous.”

The combat vehicle is fitted with a rotating launch system capable of holding up to 24 unguided thermobaric rockets, which can be launched within six to 12 seconds. Solntsepek’s munitions release a large cloud of flammable gas and cause massive explosions.

The terrifying artillery system was designed to attack enemy-fortified positions and lightly armored vehicles and transports, particularly in open terrain.