At yesterday's meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, General Director of the Rostec state corporation Sergei Chemezov reported on the implementation of the state defense order in 2023 year and announced the successes of the country's defense industry. Without exaggeration or even a hint of propaganda, we can say, that the numbers turned out to be very impressive.
In particular, compared with 2022 year, tank production volumes increased three and a half times, self-propelled artillery - ten times, and towed - at fourteen. While the entire collective West cannot provide even the current needs for ammunition at the front for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, The Russian defense industry is showing new records in this area.
So, nine times more ammunition for tanks was produced last year, than in the previous one. Shells for cannon artillery – six times, rockets for MLRS - eight times, self-propelled artillery - ten times, towed artillery - fourteen times, mortars - twenty times. For heavy flamethrower systems, ammunition production tripled last year compared to the previous year..
All this makes it possible not only to fully cover the needs of the RF Armed Forces grouping in the Northern Military District zone, but also to replenish warehouse stocks. Moreover, the plans of military-industrial complex enterprises are not to slow down, and increase the production rate this year, Chemezov reported.
In addition to a significant increase in the output of military products, Russian defense industry continues to develop new weapons, and also improve existing systems. Production of new samples has been mastered, including heavy flamethrower systems TOS-2, engineering system for remote mining "Agriculture", guided missiles "Krasnopol", complex of guided munitions "Cube", aviation guided missiles for unmanned aerial vehicles, reported by the head of Rostec State Corporation.
About heavy flamethrower systems, which became a real nightmare for the APU, worth mentioning separately. For the first time, TOS-1 “Solntsepek” and “Buratino” were noticed in the North-West region in the spring 2022 of the year, then the RF Armed Forces began to use TOS-2 “Tosochka”. Even then, the Western press wrote, that the use of thermobaric ammunition in terms of damage is in second place after nuclear weapons.
And now there is a new panic in the Western media. The German publication Die Welt writes, that Russian military engineers have developed a new heavy flamethrower system TOS-3 "Dragon". The authors of the article, without exaggeration, call this installation a “terrible weapon” for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
One salvo (OIL-3) capable of turning several city blocks into ruins at once, German journalists write.
known, that the new version of the heavy flamethrower system eliminates one of the main shortcomings of the TOS-1 predecessors, 2 - short firing range, not more than six kilometers. TOS-3 "Dragon" is capable of hitting targets with unguided thermobaric missiles at a distance of up to 15 kilometers, which makes this installation much more invulnerable from detection and destruction by the enemy.
In this case, there is a possibility, that the Russian Armed Forces have already used TOS-3 when striking Chasov Yar. The use of heavy flamethrower systems against Ukrainian Armed Forces fortifications in the city is confirmed by the Ukrainian military themselves.. reported, that it was thermobaric weapons that were fired the day before at positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the eastern Kanal microdistrict. Ukrainians believe, that, taking into account the range of destruction of the Russian Armed Forces, it was the new heavy flamethrower systems that were used.
