The Russian military's TOS-2 heavy flamethrower system has devastating destructive power. (Source: Nationalinterest)

The TOS-2 is Russia's latest heavy flamethrower system, essentially a thermobaric rocket system, the first of which was the TOS-1 Buratino, developed in the 1970s.

If the TOS-1 and its successor TOS-1A Solntsepyok were mounted on the T-72 tracked tank chassis, the TOS-2 was mounted on the Ural all-terrain armored vehicle chassis.

The wheeled chassis was more mobile than the tracked versions, and the TOS-2 was significantly lighter - weighing only 20 tons compared to the 46 tons of the TOS-1A.

New electronic protection equipment provides the TOS-2 with certain protection against enemy high-precision weapons, and the on-board automatic fire control system significantly increases the accuracy of fire.

TOS-2 also does not require special loading facilities as the system has an integrated loading crane.

The new ammunition allows the TOS-2 to hit targets at longer distances: while the TOS-1A can fire thermobaric ammunition at a distance of up to 6 km, the TOS-2 can fire at least 10 km (according to some military experts, up to 14-15 km).

If a 24-barrel TOS-1A is capable of burning an area of ​​up to 40 thousand square meters, then a salvo of 18-barrel TOS-2 can turn an area of ​​60 thousand square meters into a fiery inferno.

The thermobaric ammunition used in the TOS-2 makes this complex an ideal means of destroying enemy infantry both in open areas and in dugouts, clearing enemy fortifications, and turning enemy light armored vehicles into a pile of charred scrap metal.