[William May]

The thermite drops idea must have come from someone who was either a foundryman, or a railroad worker. Railroads use these to join rails together. They put a ceramic form up against the rails, place a thermite charge on top, light it off, and it generates molten iron or steel, which runs into the mold and joins the rail ends together. You can watch them do it on Youtube on a rail enthusiast site. I would say each thermite charge will generate 10-15 lbs of molten iron or steel. Maybe they are stacking them to get a longer mission time. There is NOTHING that will stop that stuff when it drops out of the sky. Remember Thrumpkins Fire Factory video? I thought the drones were bad enough, but I would HATE to be a Russian soldier right now!
If only the Ukrainian SBU could get some 2 minute videos made of
drone drops on Russian soldiers, or a 2 minute video of Russians committing suicide, I think it would REALLY have an effect on the home Russian citizens, to see their sons, husbands, and fathers lives thrown away like that. There is no glory in the Russian battles in Ukraine. It needs to be brought home to the Russian families of the men who are fighting there.

[Vincentsdream]

Rushed here after seeing the thermite drones. Holy shit that is genius.

[OmniJackal]

Originally Posted by William May ↗

In the first video compilation, I'm seeing a lot of blue and white striped shirts, which I believe is Russian NAVY! Are they sending SAILORS into ground combat?
(Or am I wrong?)

Rabbit hole time? The naval infantry have a storied history and have been at it for hundreds of years.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Naval_Infantry

[William May]

Originally Posted by Vincentsdream ↗

Rushed here after seeing the thermite drones. Holy shit that is genius.

It IS genius!
I think they can be built in virtually ANY size, the only limit is being able to lift the ingredient load. I KNOW they used to repair locomotive frames this way, as well as joining rails. Cracked steam locomotive frames were sighted in with transits for such points as the axlebox centerlines, registration holes in the frame, etc. They then built sand dams around the area to be welded, built the Thermite pile, and lit it off. It is self-fueling because of the ingredients (powdered aluminum dust and iron or steel flakes) so they just light it, and go take a break until it cools off and the molds can be removed. Then they grind or file whatever edges down, that they need to clean up, take the locomotive off of the jacks and stands, and put it back in service. Steam Locomotive frames were NOT heat-treated, so this type of weld had no effect on stress or strain, or fatigue life. The process is known as thermit welding, but the trade name of the supplier is THERMITE, who provides the proper alloy of steel to go with the aluminum powder, and they basically supply everything needed, including the ceramic molds for different sizes of rail, the proper chemicals to mix with the powders, etc, etc. If you watch it on a Youtube rail channel, it is interesting to watch. They actually showed it on the news in Tucson, over the 2 days that our local trolley company Thermited all the rails that they had just finished laying. The ceramic molds keep the molten metal from forming a big glob on the rails, but that is not important on the outside of the rail, so they usually just grind the areas where the wheels run to a flat or matching profile, and ignore the outside of the rail (Which on our streets got concrete or blacktop put in right up to the outer edge of the rails. It's a very fast process. I think it took them about 10 minutes per joint, and they just moved from one joint to another until they were done. The powder mixture has fluxes mixed in with it, to keep contaminants out of the actual welded area.

[William May]

Originally Posted by OmniJackal ↗

Rabbit hole time? The naval infantry have a storied history and have been at it for hundreds of years.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Naval_Infantry

Yeah, but seeing how badly torn up these guys got in the videos, it looks more like ragtag groups of hapless sailors being sent into combat, rather than experience Naval troops. I would expect something like our SEALS from the Russian Navy, but it could be that all those guys are dead. I know the Ukrainians shot down several plane loads of Russian Special Forces during the start of the war, using fake airport lights to get them to descend right into forests, and in other cases they landed at the actual airports, and were immediately surrounded and destroyed by Ukrainian armored units that were waiting for them. If I remember correctly, the Russian Special Forces were basically wiped out at that time, and had to be rebuilt. But you can't replace guys who trained for 10 years, with guys who got drafted 6 months ago, and then were sent into battle. These don't look like tough fighters. They look like hapless Naval recruits wishing they were somewhere else.

[DontLikeGore]

Post #8, 3rd video. A headless Russian moves his hands. Wtf.

[AmigoBandar]

Originally Posted by DontLikeGore ↗

Post #8, 3rd video. A headless Russian moves his hands. Wtf.

The very last one in that video? You can see him in profile, nose pointing right.

Originally Posted by kellyhound ↗

3. Compilation of dead and almost dead invaders.

[BigNoLove]

Surrendering soldier goes for the gun and gets everyone killed.

[kellyhound]

1. Drone droppings by the 68th killing the occupiers.

2. Enemy UAZ-3741 van (known as bukhanka or loaf) was equipped with electronic warfare and attacked by an Ukrainian drone. A russian serviceman films the outcome.

3. Occupier that was hit by shrapnel from a drone dropping.

4. Last Tuesday in Luhansk the Ukrainian army hit an enemy vehicle gathering, destroying 4 T-80BVM tanks (2022 model) and an AC fuel tanker based on a MAZ 531605 truck.

5. Enemy BMP goes boom!

6. Stugna hits enemy.

7. Pigs feasting on corpse.

[Lemon141]

3. Occupier that was hit by shrapnel from a drone dropping

Narrator says "it's the aftermath of the lighters". I'm guessing he means those thermite drones