A lot has been said about the Russian TOS-1(A) system in recent days but there are a few things that amaze me more than its thermobaric missiles... Image
These MRLS are not operated by the Russian (rocket) artillery troops but by the Russian NBC Protection troops Image
Historically that makes sense as the NBC troops traditionally also use incendiary munitions (and there are incendiary missile warheads for the TOS-1(A)). It make them one of the few CBRN/NBC troops in the world with a dedicated offensive role.
But it becomes more interesting if we look at the thermobaric missiles fired by the system: Image
We have a thin-walled missile with a liquid fill and a burster charge to create a aerosol of the liquid fill. Now replace "thermobaric mixture" with "chemical agent fill" and you have system in your inventory convertible to a CW launch platform with minimal changes.
Oh, and its operated by people with the knowledge to handle dangerous substances. This is not to say that I believe that Russia still hides significant amounts (tons) of undeclared CW agents but...
...if you want a breakout capability that allows you to go back to CW quickly this is a pretty good platform.

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More from @blumscientific

Nov 8, 2021
And the Art IX saga at the @OPCW regarding the #Navalny poisoning enters another round. Note verbale by the Russian Federation from 2 November: opcw.org/sites/default/… A few observations (thread).
RU refutes the replies by UK, GER, FR and SWE saying "the responses [...] do not contain the necessary information and [the RU side] perceives them to be formalities with no substance that are propagandistic in nature"
This follows the refutation of RU replies to the questions by 45 State Parties. So both sides are unsatisfied with the answers provided and this in principle opens the way for furthers actions under Art IX (opcw.org/chemical-weapo…)
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