Tank columns are not what they used to be😅🔥
Droid TW-12.7 - a strike GRC, which is already performing combat missions of the AFU.
Coming to a police station near you!
These things apparently only cost 30k !
Where do I buy one?
https://devdroid.tech/en/catalog/droid-tw
For you and me, they’re on preorder though.
I hate the distopian hellhole we are leaving in now.
These things at least make for less costly battles for Ukraine, so that’s fine by me; i am more concerned that tech like this lands in the hands of anti-riot units
Johnny 5 got fat
Too much RadioShack
Nono, that’s Johnny 3, his ancestor!
The fact that these have a .50 cal machine gun mounted on them is intense. That basically defeats the armor of most Russian armored vehicles that are being fielded from closer range.
In frontline combat one of those could be thrown into a risky attack against enemy armor to shed the enemy armor of externally mounted electronics warfare and anti-drone protection with a burst of .50 cal fire. Even if the Russian armor quickly destroys the .50 cal UGV, it is now a sitting duck for FPV attack and artillery spotting since the outside of the armor just got a lead shower and is now functionally naked on the modern battlefield.
I think these are more useful for small unit logistics and clearing operations but given the creativity and sophistication of Ukrainian drone pilots I wouldn’t be surprised if Ukraine became very effective at this kind of “one two punch” on Russian armor.
In general I could see heavy machine gun operators moving to these platforms for most risky fire missions not in urban terrain just because operating the big loud angry thing from 100 meters away is probably a hell of a lot safer than being right behind it when a counter attack comes (particulary mortars and artillery).
I don’t think these would be very useful in frontal assaults, since they aren’t armored and would be vulnerable to small arms themselves. I think they are more useful as distractions, such as driving them forward to provide suppressing fire so that the ukrainians can reposition to gain an advantage.
The Ukrainians seem to disagree, here’s an article from over a year ago of their first fully robotic combined arms assault, complete with minelaying aerial drones, groundbased suicide bots and those things. The article also mentions one of these units being used in September last year for clearing of a trench. Weak points only seem to be the optical sensors, but in combination with air surveillance drones you might still be able to get use out of one when the sensors are damaged. But it’s really about taking the risk away from their soldiers, and you can do that very well with these things.
eta: the development is real quick btw. first live test in september to combined arms assault in december is pretty bonkers
after the war, i’m terrified of when the next anti-oligarch revolution happens and the Ukrainian state deploys the murderbots to defend private property from starving Ukrainians
