Check out the accompanying article for this one here: armourersbench.com/2023/07/23/the-fanta-bomb-improvised-munitions-in-ukraine/

From what I read about the US in Vietnam, it was a regular practice by US forces to crush drinks cans so the VC couldn't use them to make improvised grenades.

One Red bull and four Jager bombs please.

We used to make this kinda thing in highschool. Bottles filled with pebbles and flash powder from firecrackers. Ducttaped up for extra pressure build up. War makes for creative minds

Thanks for the shoutout. We'll have to try recreating a few more of those improvised grenades.

"Redbulls, gives them wings."

Even if you have regular grenades I think making these in this situation has value. You can have custom payloads and it saves grenades for you to use and its a good use of excess explosives you couldn't or wouldn't otherwise use.

2:42 Gives new meaning to "Red Bull gives you wings"

Don't forget the morale boost these improvised explosives provide. It's the "Fucking around with fireworks" type of acts with the boys that boost morale a lot.

Now THAT is a fizzy drink!

The surprising part about this to me is the availability of those fuses. Explosives are common in the Millitary and obtainable for a civilian. But fuses would seem like the hardest part to aquire.

Im a drone pilot in Ukraine. The sort of container is irelavant but at least in my unit our sapper uses plastic bottles for pyrotechnics and beer or pop cans for HE or frag we also now use custom 3D printed casings Grenade fuses are common as are impact detonated nose cones from Mortar and VOG grenades . Remote det, timed det and proxy or tip switch are also used . The explosives used are normally harvested from UXOs so artillery, mortar and rocket rounds, also from TM62 mines so ammonium nitrate and TNT basically but i have seen some real comp and even C4. As far as I know they dont get used as grenades as they tend to be too powerful. But im sure its happened. Generally. Bomb weight is 450 g for a DJI mavic 1.5/3kg for an normal 7" FPV but you can scale up FPVs and bomb size accordingly. There are also things like water/sea mines being produced and even Hamas style home made rockets and launcher..... I like my job . I have a channel if anyone is interested

The IRA has a long history of improvised grenades, coffee can bombs were pretty devastating and multi purpose. They could be thrown like a regular hand grenade or used with a trip wire. The biggest difference was the arming method, instead of a traditional grenade fuse they used a 9v battery with a switch which was used to ignite a fuse leading to a conventional blasting cap. The glass fragmentation was horrific and could tear you to pieces, plus you can't use a metal detector to find the pieces so you have to either use an xray and a skilled surgeon or have a medic dig around to find each piece. Given the glass was sharp you can't just leave it in either, it'll just keep cutting you internally. The one seen in the video looks like ammonal to me or a wax like explosive liquified, mixed with bearings and poured into the bottles. As to why, I would speculate maybe they've captured large amounts of fuses without the shells and are repurposing them, it could also be they simply want a much larger blast when dropping them from drones. Each drone is expensive so you want to inflict as much damage as possible if the drone gets shot down. Each of those bottles looks to be double or triple the amount of explosives in a traditional grenade. Ammonal would be ideal, all you need is fertilizer and aluminium powder. So one person with a belt grinder could make dozens of these grenades daily. If I had to give them some advice it would be to stop mixing the bearings in with the explosive, instead wrap tape around the bottle to hold a layer of bearings on the outside to maximise fragmentation. If they really want to take it up a notch, use long 250ml cans filled with explosive inside a larger can with bearings in the larger can. So it has two layers of fragmentation from the cans combined with the bearings. They could also wrap chicken wire around the cans sort of similar to the AIM-9X early warheads to create expanding rings of metal that sever limbs.

One key point here, the Ukrainians doing this is not reserved only for this battle. The US/UK/AUS/CA and nearly all other militaries around the world have Combat Engineers who specialize in improvised explosives, tactics, and operations, to adapt to the changing needs of the battlefield. I only mention the (4) Alliance nations above because they are most well known for it, especially British and American. The US has a vast array of tools available to the Combat Engineer to get the job done. Various types of explosives in various prepackaged quantities and shapes, various initiation devices as well. The only difference here is that the Ukrainians are filming all of this in real time and the world is getting to see it. They are also using it at a rate far greater than we have seen before which shows how dynamic and unpredictable the shape of the battlefield is. I find this absolutely fascinating. To note. The improvised drink bottle bombs they are making are akin to the WWII "Potato Masher" stick grenade that was used by Germany. Normal blast/frag grenades only have tens to a hundred grams of HE contained within. When you need something far bigger, and you need it to be dead accurate, and you don't have artillery, these fit the bill perfectly. Essentially a stop-gap.

A lot are also likely made by guys on the front who know they go through a lot of grenades so they make their own to increase their grenade supply

I’m gonna end up on a watchlist for liking this vid but it’s worth it.

Additionally, I'd imagine an improvised grenade that still (mostly) looks like the drink can/bottle it was made from would be quite useful when setting booby traps as it could quite easily be mistaken for normal detritus.

3:00 i can think of another reason why these muntiions are being made. It's an example of trench art. Albeit the explosive kind if you notice a lot of them have messages. World war 2 veterans as well as modern veterans would say war is very boring punctuated with seconds of a mixture of pure excitement and terror.

i think people over rate frag grenades, they are useful bit they don't do the kind of damage that most people think. Some of those craft produced grenades look a good deal more destructive than a factory made frag.

They'd be a lot more effective if they epoxied the fragmentation to the inside of the containers. The US found that loose ball bearings don't accelerate well during the development of the claymore mine.

had been thinking about soda bottle grenades for a while, especially those small 33cl ones. interesting seeing that idea in practice.

It also adds some shock value against an enemy which is demoralizing when your best mates are being taken out by a soda bottle!

I suspect stronger hand grenades/ throwable explosive charges are something many military are looking into due to this conflict. I've seen many cases of handgrenades being surprisingly ineffective even at very close range.

They could also be utilizing left over fuse devices from other grenades that that were used to augment things like rpg’s

During the Vietnam War, personnel in my squadron put used Coke cans and other debris in the bomb fins. An after damage report credited a Coke can with a KIA.

Another good type of object to use for such ideas - is the ballcock from cisterns: the plastic, round ballcock - cheap to purchase and conveniently shaped, ready to fill with whatever you want: and the mounting screw hole for the detonator after it is prepped.

Thanks, I always find your video's interesting. In this case it's just like the chaps in the trenches in WW1 & Gallipoli, filling bully beef cans with powder and shrapnel. What was old is new again. Cheers

Wanta Fanta? Wanta Fanta! Fanta! An explosion of flavor!

there was a recent video of a drone dropping what appeared to be a round AT mine into a mortar trench - if had quite a long delay but the bang was quite large!

As to why they aren’t using factory made grenades, i think a lot of it is these guys are also using what they are able to capture from enemy positions. Use the manufactured ones during the assault, scrounge up the captured munitions, resupply your self and keep pushing through the objective. As opposed to “We’ve taken point A. Now we gotta wait a few days or more to start on point B”

Great video. Thanks

also because regular grenades may be more useful on the frontlines

2:40 These Redbull... *Will definitely give Ivan wings!*

Necessity is the mother of all inventions

The more technical items of interest are the release mechanisms and .stl files for the printed components. Striker-fired improvised fuses similar to how BDU-33 practice bomb spotting charges would be easy to make but they have heaps of Soviet grenades and parts so using fuses makes sense.

Another great video by the Armorers Bench.

1 to 2 kg of explosive in one of these energy drink grenades is alot of explosive. Just comparing it to WW2 American grenades, they had roughly 65g of explosive filler. Just one kg of explosive is 1000g. 😳

I'm still waiting to see the Taiwanese Revolver 860 drones in action in Ukraine. Those things should be insanely devastating.

It’s also something to preoccupy yourself with while combating boredom

never new about these , great vid bro

would these plastic and aluminum can casings lead to a diminished effect in terms of explosive power? i was under the impression you want a tougher casing to allow a higher pressure to develop within the bomb before it cracks open and fragments

Ive seen ukrainian civilians making these but they are like sophisticated molotov cocktails/unsophisticated incendiary grenades. They fill them with broken down styrofoam and an accelerant, acetone preffered but the trsditional petrol also used. Its basically napalm and the sudden pressure, even in plastic bottles blows it everywhere, including any added shrapnel and the styrfoam makes it stick to anything nearby. I also saw them using fuses for these sort of things triggered by blank shotgun shells, which fired when triggered by a trip wire attached to a kind of metal mechanical camp perimeter security system you can buy very cheaply online.

Great video. Good information and learned some valuable lessons here. Keep up the good work and good luck with the channel

Very interesting. Keep up the good work.

The one I haven’t seen yet is the copper cone in a pvc tube improvised anti-tank IED. Drone carrys it, lands on top of a tank’s engine compartment, detonates, and a jet of molten copper burns down through everything.

As they say "when life gives you lemon you make lemonade". You got to go with what you have.

Someone get these guys some tall boys

Thanks for this now I go to store and buy non-stop nrg drink!

Cant believe so many people cannot understand that transporting any sort of military equipment (or any equipment for that matter) is harder and can sometimes take longer in an active warzone rather than a peacetime country.

Some of these are definitely way too heavy to be thrown by hand at a significant distance, which might also be the problem for the guy throwing them, especially if he needs to use them in the open field and he will be in the blast radius himself. But, that's situational. Still, the weight... That is why they are most likely resorting to drink cans; they are smaller and easier to handle.

Oh, wow! At around 2:54 that image of the five improvised grenades - the one on the far right actually has an old WWII-era Koveshnikov-type fuse! The UZRG-M replaced those during the war, so that thing's been hanging around since the 40s! It might not even fire after all this time.

Mate, your pronounciation of Kropla Beskidu was spot on. Impressive :)

Another reason to make improvised munitions is that there is if there is no mass-produced ammunition suitable for the task. If you what a 3 kg warhead like the one in the soft drink bottle you can deliver from a drone hand grades are too light. There are no hand grands that are that heavy A 82mm mortar bomb has around the right mass but the fuze in them is built so they are from the acceleration when fires so you still need to modify them. If you use one you remove one you can fire from a mortar. You do that with a hand grande and some plastic explosive There are RPG munition with similar mass but why use a fragmentation variant if the om mad stuff works as well when dropped from a drone. HEAT warheads are a lot harder to make and we have seen lots of RPG-7 HEAT motion dropped from drones and used on PFV drones. Ukraine has requested Mk 20 Rockeye II cluster bomb from the US, not to drop from aircraft that would like to to dangerous but to disassemble them and use the anti-tank bomblets from drones

👍 Great idea - also raises the possibility of detonating a package in the air to reach into trenches. If they can secure reliably-timed fuses/detonators, then it's easy to calculate the height to drop them from, in order to go off say 3m from the ground.

Gave "redbull gives you wings" a new meaning

Seems as though theyre looking for a larger hand grenade, maybe the normal hand grenades arent doing enough damage

You can put more sincerity into it when it's handmade. And the bond deepens.

How does non-stop taste compared to Red Bull? I've seen them in the STALKER games before. Overall, greak Ukrainian engineering philosophy, "You make do with what you have."

In this case "red bull" does give you wings 😂😂

If a thing goes bang with enough force and shrapnel people don't work any more. I suspect the larger explosive loads are for drones . Trying to throw a couple of kilos far enough to not get in the way would take a lot of effort.

No, it's because money meant for military purposes is going elsewhere.

Man, that version of Red Bull definitely will give you wings, one way or another🤣

How are they not getting "the munitions they need" but still getting the grenade fuses that they do?

When you consider that most hand grenades carry at most a few hundred grams of explosive it makes a ton of sense they're trying to manufacture ordnance with a bit more bang.

Another reason soldiers have always worked on improvised munitions is boredom. Being in a war is 99% sitting around doing nothing and 1% fighting. Thinking of novel ways to kill your enemy is a good pastime.

The trolls saying this is what billions in aid look like in a war of national survival did not notice the level of Mcgyvering the Soviet Union did during its own war for national survival...

How are they getting fuses without the bodies. Do eastern block countries ship them separate?

Where are the ball bearings coming from? I can imagine being able to scrounge things up from enemy positions or having stockpiles of fuses etc. but it seems odd to have transported pounds and pounds of ball bearings to the front lines without some alternate purpose. at that point would it be equally cost effective and easy to send proper munitions?

Welp Fanta was created by German branch of Coca Cola so that's against Russia again😂

As long at the orcs go home I'd even agree to Pepsi bottles being used.

How is the pin pulled? Pre take off and then something keeps the spoon in place until an actuator drops it or is there a system so that the pin is pulled in the air?

They're likely being used (mostly) for boobytraps and drones. IED's of course have a sophistication spectrum but generally they're more awkward and slower to deploy than regular grenades when being used as such. That said there's likely occasions where they can be deployed in that fashion where speed isn't of the essence. Ukrainians often try to capture enemy forces but on occasions where they won't leave the closet/room/subterranean section in a trench, they'll just throw in an explosive and in these cases it may as well be a crude cheap one.

I can't imagine they haven't been doing this type of stuff, since black powder has been used on the battlefield. Pretty sure it's a no-brainer for 99% of men, "hey this stuff goes boom, let's put it into this!"

So thats what 100+ Billion USD (and counting) gets you. With all the nato allies plus money pouring in they can't even get resupplied with grenades. Something doesn't add up. For a country that gets so much help through equipment and financially, it's nowhere to be seen. Almost like alot of that money is being laundered.

soldier was using a vr head set nice

Make homemade to extend your supply of the real thing until the end. To add. Making charges was a way to pass time during Afghanistan. Especially teaching infantryman to build expedient wall charges and such. At least they're taking out the trash.😂

РедБулл надає крила! аххахахахахах

They are recieving billions, and its not enough.

What level do you have to reach to unlock the crafting perk?

2:31 Red Bull gives Wings ... in an absolute new way....

haha, 'Ukraine totally winning' drinks can grenades. Hope they both lose this war is stupid.

Go Georgian legion!!! Слава Україні!!! 🇺🇦 დიდება საქართველო!!! 🇬🇪

This takes, reb bull gives you wings 🪽 to a whole other level

very impressive!

where is all the aid and weapons that our tax payers gone gone to? WTF another cash grab

Россия великая страна бойтесь нас

Come on red bull you like sponsoring extreme sports and stuff, what is more extreme than turning old red bull cans into grenades. It really gives new meaning to the slogan 'Red Bull gives you wings'

Very interesting

Where is the billions & billions $$$$ aid to Ukraine?

If they got the fuses they got the grenades so they aren’t running out or not getting the aid . I’d suspect they are building them purpose built for a specific job

excellent content

Another reason to make these is why waste an anti-tank missile to take out a target when one of these will do. And also just for practice. You need a plan B even if you are getting what you want and need just incase

Ty

1:42 What are those silver and black folders? Almost like a make-up palette

When you're really just about to give someone their wings.

Plastic (explosives) Fantastic.

This brings a whole new meaning to redbull gives you wings.

That NON STOP drink is awesome, the only one that is better is probably REVO

Trench warfare. Got a rabbit in a hole. Pop goes the weasel.

Might I suggest a cheap laser pointer taped on strapped under the payload for a crude aiming method?