THE Russian military has announced that it is lining up its first unit featuring robot tanks.
The remotely piloted machines, called Uran-9, can be armed with machine guns, flamethrowers and anti-tank missiles.
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They’ll work alongside troops to assist combat, carry out reconnaissance and offer fire support.
It comes as tensions between the US President Joe Biden and Russian leader Vladimir Putin escalate over the Ukraine crisis.
Putin is amassing forces on the frontiers of its neighbouring country, a move that has led calls from Biden to stand down or risk retribution.
According to the state-run TASS news agency, Russia’s Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, inspected the unmanned Uran-9 tanks on Friday.
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The inspection took place at the 766th Production and Technological Enterprise in Nakhabino near Moscow where the vehicles are developed and manufactured.
Plans are now in motion to incorporate the tanks into army units after they were previously deployed in Syria.
“An experimental unit is being established on the premises of one of the Defence Ministry’s scientific research centers,” Russia’s Defence Ministry said.
“This center will subsequently train personnel that will operate Uran-9 strike robotic vehicles in operational military units.”
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Russia building ‘ground force’ of killer robot tanks
The Uran-9 is powered by a diesel-electric motor and has a top speed of 22 miles per hour (35 kph).
It is remotely piloted by an operator in a mobile vehicle no more than 1.8 miles away.
That operator can either control the vehicle manually on set it on a pre-determined path.
The eventual goal is to develop artificial intelligence that can control the vehicle without intervention from an operator.
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The 12-ton robot is kitted out with Ataka guided weapons, anti-tank missiles, Shmel-M flamethrowers, and a 7.62mm machine gun.
At least one Uran-9 was deployed and tested in the Syrian Civil War in 2018, though it is unclear if it ever participated in combat.
The trial didn’t work out, and after a month on the field the Kremlin admitted the unmanned ground vehicle wasn’t ready for regular front-line use.
It’s one of a number of killer robots in development by the Russian military.
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The Kremlin has also said it is working on swarms of automated quadrocopter drones that bombard targets with explosives.
“We expect to continue expanding the range of robots, which, of course, are already in demand in the military today,” Russia’s defense minister Sergei Shoigu said last week.
“These will be heavy robots (for mine clearance) and everything related to the further development of scouts, radiation and chemical reconnaissance robots.”
The US, China and France are also developing tanks that can acquire targets and move using artificial intelligence.
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It’s got tech boffins worried that AI will one day spell the end for the human race.
Some have called for bans on technology that can fire their weapons at a human target without the final say of an operator.
In 2019, billionaire Bill Gates warned that the threat AI poses to humanity is similar to that of nuclear weapons.
He said intelligent machines have the potential to both save and destroy the human race.
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