Ukraine's explosive trap: Turning radios into lethal weapons
The war in Ukraine features many innovative methods of targeting the enemy, one inspired by a well-known Israeli operation against Hezbollah. Here are the details of this clever action by the Ukrainians.
4:44 PM EDT, October 10, 2024
The Ukrainians display remarkable ingenuity in neutralizing Russian forces, with their latest tactic drawing heavily from an Israeli Mossad mission involving explosive pagers against Hezbollah.
In the images below, you can see how the Ukrainians may have added a significant amount of plastic explosives and an EDP-r electric detonator connected to a switch on possibly damaged Motorola radios. The explosion is designed to be powerful enough to severely injure the hands and face of anyone attempting to use the radio.
Exploding radios — deadly for curious Russians
Both Ukrainians and Russians face challenges due to a lack of secure communications. However, Ukrainians continue to receive new solutions from Western countries, while Russians rely on outdated technologies, including TA-57 field phones from the Soviet era or commercial radios from China.
These devices are vulnerable to eavesdropping, a risk both sides have encountered multiple times. Thus, captured communication devices are valuable. The Ukrainians seem to be banking on this by deploying explosive Motorola radios on Russian territory using drones.
Given equipment shortages, a Russian soldier might pick up such a device and try to use it or pass it to a higher-ranking officer. The latter scenario is especially desirable because officers, particularly those working with communication, are rarer and more difficult to replace.
If these Ukrainian tactics result in losses among Russian specialized personnel, the investment may prove worthwhile. Consider the significant impact the large-scale Israeli attack (using thousands of pagers) had on Hezbollah's combat capabilities during the IDF's operations in Lebanon.
