Ukraine Attacks Russian Positions with ‘Dragonfire’ Thermite Drone

Forbes published a report on the video posted on Telegram by Ukraine’s 108th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade which shows a drone flying along a tree line occupied by Russian forces, spurting a white-hot flame onto the locations below. As the video ends, the trees and adjacent fields are left burning.

Referencing the popular TV series “Game of Thrones” the social media post was entitled “Drakaris” – the command given to dragons to attack. The video has been widely reposted on both Telegram and X /Twitter.

The video shows the drone flying down the tree line, spraying fire before appearing to drop a munition, which continues to burn before exploding on the ground, setting the immediate area ablaze as the drone moves away.

Thermite is an incendiary mixture containing aluminum and iron oxide powder that, when ignited, burns for some time at very extreme temperatures – as high as 2,000 degrees C (3,632 degrees F) or more. This is hot enough to burn through steel plate, which is why Ukrainian drone operators have frequently used drones to drop thermite bombs on to damaged and abandoned Russian armored vehicles. Once inside a tank for example the thermite heats up the interior to a temperature that will ignite fuel and ammunition, destroying it.

The Ukrainian start-up company Steel Hornets produces a number of explosive devices designed to be delivered by drones, including thermite charges ranging in size from 0.5 to 2.5 kg (1.1 to 5.5 pounds).

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If this information is confirmed, it would be the first time such a weapon had been used since Russia invaded in February 2022.

This is the first time that the incendiary has been seen to have been deployed as a “flamethrower” in this way. While the device in the video burns for a time consistent with the largest of the Steel Hornets’ products, which suggests a large “Baba Yaga” type of drone was used to carry it, Forbes speculates that this may be a modified mixture designed to spurt out a flame.

The “Dragonfire” itself is unlikely to cause much direct injury unless an individual is unfortunate enough to be struck directly by a burning fragment, but it will ignite any flammable material and, as seen in the video, dry crops and trees.

Tree lines along agricultural fields are regularly chosen as defensive positions to provide natural cover in these wide-open spaces. The secondary fire and smoke resulting from the use of the weapon in this way would then threaten troops and, if forced from defensive dugouts or trenches, they could be engaged by artillery as they move into the open.

Forbes also raised the question of the legality of the weapon if used as an anti-personnel weapon. In this instance, it is not used directly against individuals. While the video suggests a spectacular outcome, it is the probable indirect effects of fire and smoke that could deprive the enemy of useful cover and also its impact on morale that is its most practical application.