Business Insider
Ukraine’s drone war is fueling the rise of a new rocket in Europe: a helicopter-fired munition tweaked to create a small steel cloud in the sky.
As Russia barrages Ukraine with growing waves of Shahed one-way attack drones, European weapons manufacturer Thales has been fitting an airburst warhead on its 70mm rockets to counter such threats.
The new FZ123 warhead is filled with thousands of tiny steel pellets blasted out by two pounds of high-explosive material.
When the warhead detonates, the pellets burst out in an area of about 80 feet in diameter to take down a drone or drone swarm, much like the way birdshot spreads from a shotgun shell. Depending on how far the rocket has been flying, the steel balls can be spread even wider.
Ukrainian troops rely on shotguns to shoot small drones at extremely close range. Similarly, the rocket-carried warhead is an inexpensive means to destroy NATO-standard Class II drones — which include the Shahed — and heavier Class III drones at up to 10,000 feet away with air bursts.
