Remember when Ukraine destroyed a dangerous Russian weapon with a drone?

Drones have changed how warfare is fought in the modern age and nowhere is that lesson more apparent than on the battlefield in Ukraine. Every day produces a new story about an expensive piece of military equipment destroyed by a cheap drone.

Russia has lost a lot of important pieces of hardware to drone warfare but one of its most important losses came in March 2023 when a Ukrainian drone operator took out one of Moscow's deadliest weapons platforms.

Soldiers of Ukraine’s Special Operations Center A of the Security Service were able to destroy a TOS-1A thermobaric multiple-launch rocket system using a drone and Ukraine's Security Service released the video of the attack.  

The video of the operation showed how Ukrainian special forces evaded rockets to destroy the Russian war machine, approaching the TOS-1A from the front while it was operating on a dirt road somewhere in Ukraine. 

Screenshot from Twitter @NOELreports

In the thirty-second first-person view video, the kamikaze drone approached the TOS-1A flamethrower as it was launching a salvo of rockets. 

Screenshot from Twitter @NOELreports

The drone operator appeared to have maneuvered past the rocket barrage with little trouble and into a cloud of smoke, swinging the drone behind the Russian vehicle. 

Screenshot from Twitter @NOELreports

The video then showed the drone's rapid approach toward the top of the TOS-1A’s rocket mount, which was marked with a large Russian Z.

Screenshot from Twitter @NOELreports

The drone then slammed into the rocket launcher and the video cut out. However, no other proof that the vehicle was destroyed was released by Ukraine at the time.  

Screenshot from Twitter @NOELreports

“The ‘Second World Army’ was left without another ‘analogue’,” The Security Service of Ukraine wrote under the video they posted to Telegram on March 8th. 

“We will continue to work until complete victory,” the Ukrainian Security Service added. Information on where and when the Russian TOS-1A system was destroyed was also not provided by Ukraine. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Vitaly V. Kuzmin, CC BY-SA 4.0

At the time. Russia had lost a total of six TOS-1A systems since launching their invasion of Ukraine according to the Dutch open-source group Oryx, which notes on its website that it only tracked Russian and Ukrainian equipment losses that could be verified with photo or video evidence. 

One TOS-1A  system was destroyed while another was damaged and four more were captured by Ukrainian forces according to Oryx’s visual confirmation. However, those numbers have seen a drastic increase in the year since Ukraine destroyed the system in the video it released in March 2023.

Photo by Twitter @oryxspioenkop

As of March 26th, 2024, Russia has lost 22 damaged, destroyed, captured, or abandoned TOS-1A systems in Ukraine, and that number is likely higher since it is only based on verifiable evidence. 

Photo by Twitter @oryxspioenkop

The TOS-1 Heavy Flamethrower system is one of the most deadly and dangerous weapons in Vladimir Putin’s military arsenal because of the damage it can inflict on the soldiers it's used against. It is unlike anything else in Russia's arsenal. 

“Mounted atop T-72 tanks, the launchers can unleash rockets with lung-searing thermobaric warheads from two miles away to just a quarter mile down the street,” Forbes journalist Eric Tegler reported in March 2022.

Photo by Twitter @AeroResearch1

The updated TOS-1A Solntsepek version, the type allegedly destroyed by Ukraine’s special forces in the video released in March 2023, is even more deadly for troops than its Soviet-era counterpart. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Vitaly V. Kuzmin, CC BY-SA 4.0

"The combat vehicle is fitted with a rotating launch system capable of holding up to 24 unguided thermobaric rockets," according to Dylan Malyasov of Defence Blog, "which can be launched within six to 12 seconds."

“Solntsepek’s munitions release a large cloud of flammable gas and cause massive explosions,” Malyasov continued. “The terrifying artillery system was designed to attack enemy-fortified positions and lightly armored vehicles and transports, particularly in open terrain."

Newsweek’s Nick Mordowanec noted that just one TOS-1A system can cost upwards of $6.5 million, which includes its “training and ammunition.”