Kalashnikov battle robot concept looks like a Star Wars AT-ST
The maker of AK-47s goes sci-fi with a bipedal beige battle-bot idea.
Kalashnikov Concern, a Russian manufacturer known for the AK-47 assault rifle, is thinking pretty big these days when it comes to new defense machines. The company unveiled a concept for a bipedal battle robot this week and all I can think about are the two-legged AT-STs from Star Wars .
The Kalashnikov creation seems to be solidly in the concept realm right now. It looks like its main job is to just stand there and look cool.
It has a couple of grabby arms and hands reminiscent of the Power Loader suit from Aliens and a large cabin at the top where presumably a human driver would sit to control the machine. It looks a bit top-heavy and not quite as lithe as an AT-ST.
Kalashnikov shared the walker during the Army-2018 international military forum and expo going on this week near Moscow. The weapons company says the goal would be to use the walker to solve engineering and combat tasks and promises to unveil more about its capabilities sometime in the future.
This isn't Kalashnikov's first attempt at a fairly out-there idea. It unveiled a rideable drone in 2017 that bore a vague resemblance to a Star Wars landspeeder.
At this rate, we can probably expect Kalashnikov to develop a full-on AT-AT within the next few years.
