The Ukrainian military is using new domestic VPR-20 man-portable single-use rocket-assisted thermobaric weapon. Although it may seem that this is an improved version of another Ukraine-made RPV-16 rocket-propelled infantry flamethrower developed in and tested on the battlefield, in fact it is a different system.
The use of an unknown thermobaric weapon by soldiers of the 3rd Army Corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was noticed by users of the social network X (formerly Twitter). Some observers suggested that, most likely, this is a renamed RPV-20PDM thermobaric system – due to the similarity of the marking with the RPV-16. However, with a more careful study of the available videos, we can conclude that this is an erroneous opinion, as there is a structural difference between these thermobaric systems.
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new ukrainian TB launcher ? ВПР-20 , marked 02-25couldn't find any information on it so far pic.twitter.com/WCLZobNXM9— Helvegen (@Helvegen29) November 14, 2025
The VPR-20 man-portable single-use rocket-assisted thermobaric weapon was first presented to the public at the IDEF 2021 defense exhibition in Turkey in a very similar design to the systems of the "RPV" family, which provides for the presence of a removable trigger mechanism.
However, the version from the video, as you can see, has a trigger integrated into the tube itself, like on the Soviet-made RPO-A Shmel rocket-assisted thermobaric weapon. Perhaps this is the serial version that was brought to unification with already familiar samples of such weapons to simplify training and use.
There is also an assumption that the built-in trigger mechanism reduces the time required to deploy the system, as well as eliminates the need to carry additional items. The latter is important, given the large amount of supplies that an infantryman has to carry on the modern battlefield.
It should be noted that in the summer of 2024, the Ministry of Defense announced the codification of an unknown man-portable single-use rocket-assisted thermobaric weapon of domestic production. At the same time, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry did not provide any additional details at that time - however, it was not about the RPV-16, because by that time it was already in service and supplied to the Defense Forces of Ukraine.
Currently, the characteristics of the VPR-20 man-portable thermobaric weapon are not known. Most likely, they will be no worse than the characteristics of another Ukrainian RPV-16 man-portable thermobaric system, which has an aiming range of up to 600 meters and a maximum firing range of up to 1000 m. The Soviet-made RPO-A Shmel rocket-assisted thermobaric weapon had similar figures.
In the Armed Forces of Ukraine, man-portable single-use rocket-assisted thermobaric weapon are mainly equipped with fighters of radiation, chemical and bacteriological protection (RCBZ) units. They are supposed to provide fire support to reconnaissance and engineering units, destroying enemy manpower. With the help of a rocket-propelled infantry flamethrower, not only manpower, equipment and structures are hit, but also fires are created in areas of combat operations to disorganize enemy forces.
According to the Ukrainian military, such weapons are especially effective during assault operations in populated areas. For example, when hitting a building, the roof simply flies up, so an enemy hiding in the building has almost no chance of survival.
Read more: Ukrainian Army Shows Domestic RPV-16 Flamethrower in Action and Tell What It’s Useful For
