[Popular Science of Chinese Military Technology] What “magical powers” ​​can military robots demonstrate when they go to the battlefield at this stage?

As the war mode develops towards unmanned and intelligent directions, military robots play an increasingly important role on the battlefield. The complex combat and support tasks on the battlefield also put forward higher requirements for the versatility of military robots. The weapon that gives military robots the ability to adapt to various actual combat environments is the special equipment developed for specific tasks.

Today, let us take a closer look at these feature-rich robots and see how they are equipped with various tools and possess a variety of skills.

Mine-clearing missions are characterized by high risk, complex situations and heavy responsibilities. The use of mine-clearing robots can minimize casualties during the bomb disposal process. The "Uranus"-6 mine-clearing robot equipped by Russia is one of the most mature mine-clearing robots at present. It is equipped with 5 different mine-clearing tools, including bulldozers, mine-clearing rollers, bulldozers, flails and mechanical arms. Among them, mine-clearing rollers and flails can achieve the effect of mine clearance by triggering mine fuses, while flails and bulldozers can "uproot" mines and push them aside. Russia is also equipped with another "Channel"-1 heavy mine-clearing robot modified from the chassis of the T-90A main battle tank. It is equipped with a TMT-C mine-clearing kit. This kit is very comprehensive, including mine-clearing rollers for triggering conventional mine fuses, cutters for cutting pull/trip mine control lines, and electronic systems for interfering with radio-controlled mines. It can clear mines with various detonation methods such as pressure, pull, trip, and radio control. It has the ability to clear almost all mines.

The picture shows the "Uranus"-6 mine-clearing robot equipped with a flail (Source: Internet)

In the context of the informatization of war mode, information collection on the battlefield is becoming more and more important. The advantages of reconnaissance robots that can carry a variety of reconnaissance equipment and transmit intelligence in real time make them shine on the battlefield. As a type of robot, aerial drones have become the mainstream of reconnaissance robots with their excellent aerial reconnaissance vision. The MQ-4 Global Hawk drone equipped by the US military can carry both optoelectronic/infrared sensor systems and synthetic aperture radars. The optoelectronic sensors work in the 0.4 to 0.8 micron band, and the infrared sensors work in the 3.6 to 5 micron band. The synthetic aperture radar is used to construct two-dimensional or three-dimensional images of reconnaissance targets and can create high-resolution images with a smaller antenna. At the same time, the Global Hawk drone can be connected to the command and control center via a satellite link, and can transmit reconnaissance images in real time to ensure the timeliness of intelligence.

The picture shows the MQ-4 Global Hawk UAV equipped by the German Bundeswehr (Source: Internet)

The idea of ​​installing weapon systems on robots so that they can assist or even replace soldiers in combat has been proposed and continuously demonstrated and practiced since the birth of robots. Today, many combat robots have been put into battlefields or military tests. Most of these robots are equipped with current weapons and equipment to reduce the logistical burden. As early as 2007, the "Sword" robot, which was put into Iraq for testing, was equipped with an M249 5.56mm machine gun. The RS2 robot is equipped with an M2HB 12.7mm machine gun. In addition to these light robots equipped only with individual weapons, there are also some heavy robots equipped with infantry fighting vehicle-level firepower: at the 2023 Abu Dhabi Defense Exhibition (IDEX 2023), Estonia's Milrem Robotics Company cooperated with the UAE EDGE Group to display a combat robot called Type-X, which can be equipped with a 30mm or 50mm cannon and two twin-mounted Hunter 2S cruise missiles on both sides of the turret, which enables its reconnaissance and strike range to reach 5 kilometers.

Russia's "Uranus"-9 robot is equipped with a 30mm 2A72 cannon and two twin 9M120-1 "Vortex" supersonic anti-tank missiles. However, the modular design allows this robot to be equipped with optional NSV 12.7mm machine guns, AGS-17 automatic grenade launchers, PKT general-purpose machine guns, 9M133 "Kornet" anti-tank missiles, and even portable air defense missiles such as 9K38 and 9K310, so it can adapt to different battlefield environments.

The picture shows the "Uranus"-9 combat robot participating in the Red Square parade (Source: Internet)

With the development of science and technology, the design of various robots has become more and more mature, and the carrying capacity of robots has also been steadily improving. The increasingly complex environment on the battlefield has given rise to many combat needs. I believe that in the near future, various robots using professional equipment will play an important role on the battlefield, and the equipment that enables robots to solve problems will become more sophisticated.

He Songze, a core member of the "Strong Army" theory group of the National University of Defense Technology, a special researcher at the school's International Theoretical Research Center, has published several articles in central core media such as People's Daily Online and China.com; Ren Jiachen, a core member of the theoretical research group, has published articles in multiple media such as China National Defense News

Produced by: Popular Science of Chinese Military Technology

Producer: Guangming Online Science Department

Author: He Songze and Ren Jiachen (National University of Defense Technology)

Review expert: Fu Songyang (National University of Defense Technology)

Planning: Jin He