Russia’s Uran 9 and Nerekhta combat, reconnaissance and fire support drones have been deployed alongside human troops for the first-time ever in the ongoing Zapad-2021 drills, Russia’s defence ministry has announced.
The ministry published photos of the vehicles in action on its Twitter and Facebook pages, specifying that the combat robots were deployed in drills at the Mulino training ground in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region.
The military also released footage of the drones operating, maneuvering and firing as operators control them from a remote location using joysticks.
The Uran-9 is tracked unmanned combat ground vehicle providing combat, fire support, reconnaissance and counterterrorism capabilities. The vehicles are equipped with a heavy autocannon, anti-tank and surface to air missile launchers, and feature IR sensors, laser rangefinders and a host of advanced sensor equipment to give remote operators full awareness of the battlefield.
The Nerekhta is another combat robot, and features a 12.7 mm machine gun and a 30 mm AGS-30 automatic grenade launcher, and is designed for reconnaissance operations and the provision of fire support.
Along with the Uran-9 and the Nerekhta, Uran-6 robotic mine clearance vehicles were used alongside manned vehicles to pass mine barriers in Monday’s drills.