Back in May, Ukrainian developers revealed a new armed ground robot—the Fury. Four months later, a Fury has fought—and reportedly won—the type�

Ukraine’s Gun-Armed Ground Robot Just Cleared A Russian Trench In Kursk

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2024-09-23 15:00:03

Back in May, Ukrainian developers revealed a new armed ground robot—the Fury. Four months later, a Fury has fought—and reportedly won—the type’s first major skirmish. On or just before Thursday, one of the four-wheeled, shopping-cart-sized Furies assaulted a trench in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.

Dodging mines and firing its machine gun in coordination with explosive drones and mortars, the ’bot defeated a small group of Russian soldiers.

“The result: part of the enemy was destroyed, the rest fled,” the 1st Detachment of the 8th Special Purpose Regiment, the ’bot’s operator, announced on social media. “The [robot] received several hits from RPGs and FPVs”—rocket-propelled grenades and first-person-view drones—“but persevered, completed the mission and returned to recovery.”

The Fury is one of several armed unmanned ground vehicles Ukrainian engineers have developed in the 30 months since Russia widened its war on Ukraine—and one of the first types to see major combat. A Fury has four wheels, a radio for receiving operator commands, video cameras and a remotely-aimed machine gun. It’s thickly built with armor plates protecting its most vulnerable components.