I never knew this was a thing until recently. It reminds me of those crazy 9/11 conspiracy theories that say thermite/nanothermite was used to demolish a building (doesn't make much sense, but w/e).
Anybody else heard of this? It's the most interesting weapon of this entire war imo.
I know of thermite grenades, but correct me if I'm wrong: That picture is phosphorus burning, not thermite.
Frick vatBlack folk first off but incendiary weapons are only a no go under specific circumstances like intentionally attacking areas with lots of civvies. In practice those incendiary rockets are used more like area denial munitions against infantry rather than killing weapons.
No thick white smoke so not WP, not for smoke generating purposes. They're hexagonal blocks of magnesium.
Doesn't the shit melt through steel? One can only imagine what that'd do to somebody's flesh (bones even, it would melt them).
Magnesium so not necessarily unless you're talking about sheet metal roofs. That shit is more like super firestarter tier in usage against flammable things like dry vegetation and wood. Humans will get burns and have to deal with inhaling some of the fumes but WP smoke is far worse to deal with.
WP smoke isn't going to hurt you. It's the pieces of burning phosphorus that cause injury.
I know phosphorous munitions were used in Mariupol (along with an unknown noxious chemical spray activated by a modified civilian drone).
White phosphorus is a pretty commonly used munition. I can't speak to how the Russians used it then, but most WP shells double as an incendiary weapon and a rapidly deployed smoke screen. Getting smoke very close to or on top of an enemy position maximizes the line of sight denied to them due to geometry.
Freshly formed hot WP smoke will frick your lungs up, maybe less directly than the pieces of phosphorus hitting but neither are good to be near.
So does the hot air rising from a fire. It cools rapidly enough that it stays close enough to the ground to be an effective smoke screen.
It's not going to stick to you and it's quite some bad luck to be hit by it (any form of roof will stop it) so unless the area has good fuel load like
says it's not going to have THAT much effect.
https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1/rule84
>The discussions in the 1970s at the UN General Assembly and during the diplomatic conferences that led to the adoption of the Additional Protocols and the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons show that the use of incendiary weapons is a sensitive issue. The controversy was occasioned in particular by the effects of these weapons during the Vietnam War, and a large number of States advocated a total prohibition of their use.[1] The majority of those that did not subscribe to a total ban did urge strict restrictions in order to avoid civilian casualties.[2]
>The treaty provisions finally adopted by consensus in Protocol III to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons reflect the latter trend, not only by repeating the principle of distinction applicable to the use of all weapons, but also by prohibiting the use of air-delivered incendiary weapons against military objectives located within a concentration of civilians and by restricting the use of other incendiary weapons within such a concentration.[3] Less than half of all States are party to this treaty. However, many States do not stock incendiary weapons, and such weapons have rarely been used since the adoption of the Protocol.
It is thermite. If it was phosphorus, it would be producing a lot more smoke.
Incendiary weapons are not illegal. If you disagree, show me the treaty that makes them illegal and show me the specific clause that does it.
Incendiary weapons destroy equipment and set fire to fortifications forcing infantry into the open where they are vulnerable to high explosive fragmentation
Thermite works through the redox reaction between the aluminum and iron. Spreading it out weakens it and makes it burn itself out. It's not napalm or phosphorus.
You don't understand how the weapon works. The thermite is contained in magnesium cups. They are individual submunitions released en masse from a rocket, not dust dispersed over an area.
I remember the webms of it happening.
It was magnesium, 9M22S rockets.
Still a big no-no to use on civilian occupied areas but in for a penny, in for a pound on the war crimes I suppose.
Thermite spread out over a wide aread would be a moronic weapon
Gotta love vatnik ingenuity.
I trust the federal governments explanation of events on September 11th, 2001
Meanwhile, in the real world:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_apartment_bombings
any results?