Cruel and Unusual: Meet Russia s New Flamethrower Battalion nationalinterest.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nationalinterest.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Is Russia s New Flamethrower Battalion Allowed Under International Law?
While these weapons are not expressly prohibited, Human Rights Watch argues that they are so indiscriminate that they would kill not just soldiers, but any civilians in the target zone.
Here s What You Need to Remember: The U.S. military has moved away from the flamethrowers and napalm bombs used during World War, Korea, and Vietnam, though there are reports that the M202A1 FLASH – a handheld bazooka-like incendiary rocket launcher – has been used in Afghanistan. However, flame weapons are an integral part of the Russian arsenal.
Heavy flamethrower battalions are coming to the Russian army.
Russia’s New Flamethrower Battalion is Both Cruel and Unusual
And could break international law.
Here s What You Need to Remember: Whether razing cities – and wiping out their inhabitants with fuel-air explosives is any more efficient or humane remains to be seen. “We had to burn the city to save it” seems a dubious assertion at best.
Heavy flamethrower battalions are coming to the Russian army.
The goal is to use incendiary weapons – devastating physically and psychologically – to clear enemy troops from cities, bunkers and tunnels.
Calling these weapons “flamethrowers” seems a bit of a misnomer. Rather than the backpack-and-nozzle units carried by foot soldiers in World War II, Russia will be using the new TOS-1A Solntsepek (“burning sun”) a multiple rocket launcher – mounted on a T-72 tank chassis – that fires thermobaric rockets. These weapons mix mix fuel and air in a cloud that, when detonated, creates massive heat and pressure effects. Russi