A state-produced infantry jet flamethrower will be in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine

A state-produced infantry jet flamethrower will be in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Ukrainian Defence Ministry has codified and approved for use a new domestically produced infantry jet flamethrower. The new weapon was developed by specialists from one of the institutions in the defense industry sector.

As the Ministry of Defence noted , this is a portable weapon designed to destroy enemy firing points, lightly armored and enemy vehicles. You can also use a flamethrower to destroy enemy personnel in shelters, obstacles and in open areas.

It is noted that the flamethrower is equipped with a rocket-propelled grenade with a special thermobaric mixture. In terms of its high-explosive effect, the explosion of this grenade is equivalent to the detonation of a large-caliber artillery shell.

“At the point where it hits, a ball of fire with a volume of about fifteen cubic meters appears and an area of high pressure is formed. The combustion temperature is almost 2500 degrees. The danger to enemy personnel remains at a distance of more than fifty meters from the epicenter of the explosion,” the Ministry of Defence said.

The use of a flamethrower during assault operations in an urban environment is considered especially effective.

“For example, an enemy hiding in a brick house will have no chance of survival if a flamethrower fires inside,” the department added.

After being included in the personnel list of military units, these weapons can be purchased from the state budget and used in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Currently, the Ukrainian Armed Forces use the Ukrainian dynamo-reactive grenade launcher with disposable thermobaric ammunition RPV-16. It was handed over to the Ukrainian army in 2018. RPV-16 produces a fire cloud with half the volume of the new design, but its high explosive has an additional fragmentation effect.

In the Armed Forces, fighters of radiation, chemical and bacteriological defense units are mainly equipped with flamethrowers. This flamethrower not only destroys manpower, equipment and structures, but also creates fires in combat areas to disorganize enemy forces.