Recycled warheads: The deadly precision of drone warfare in Ukraine
Both sides of the war in Ukraine have been compelled to use substitutes for modern precision weapons. Often, the best option consists of drones equipped with explosive charges. An ideal source of ammunition is the cluster rocket warheads that either did not fire or did not explode upon hitting the ground. However, they must be extracted from the missile first.
FPV drones have become the most effective way to deploy bomblets from cluster ammunition because they offer pinpoint precision. It is not surprising that both Ukrainians and Russians disassemble cluster warheads to use homemade devices or old hand grenades.
Below, you can see how the Russians dismantle a BM-27 Uragan missile containing 30 bomblets. A Russian demonstrates where to cut the casing and what to unscrew or break, for example, by using a hammer. After accessing the bomblets, he unscrews the fuzes with a wrench. The next recording shows a similar operation performed by a Ukrainian soldier.
Anti-personnel bomblets — a nightmare for soldiers over a large area
The bomblets extracted by the Russian are 9N210, an anti-personnel variant. Each contains a simple impact fuze with a self-destruct mechanism that is supposed to detonate within a maximum of two minutes after being armed.
Each bomblet contains a charge of 370 rods weighing about 2 grams each, which have a spread range of several metres. This—combined with the number of bomblets per rocket (30 units) and the salvo size (16 rockets)—creates a vast death zone at the impact site, where the only safe place is a bunker or the interior of an armoured vehicle.
Unfortunately, the nature and often the technical condition of the rockets used mean that some become unexploded ordnance, posing a threat for decades to come. However, the lack of charges for drones means that both sides undertake very dangerous recycling of found unexploded ordnance.
