A DRONE equipped with a machine gun has been used for the first time to ambush Russian troops during a battle in Ukraine.
Ukrainian troops fitted a Wild Hornets drone with an AK-47 assault rifle and used it to fire on Russian forces during an operation last month.
The successful attack caused panic-stricken Russian soldiers to flee the battlefield and hide in a nearby forest in the Velyka Novosilka of Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
Video footage shows the drone firing on Russian troops hiding in a tree line after a failed attack.
Russian troops returned fire striking the machine gun drone several times.
But despite sustaining some damage the drone continued flying and attacking Russian troops, according to reports.
The video footage also shows that the drone could handle the assault rifle’s recoil during burst firing, allowing the operator to conduct precise shots.
It is believed to be the first time that an unmanned air vehicle has been equipped with a machine gun and Kiev says that the weapon was developed by the Ukrainian Army’s Bulava drone unit.
The Bulava unit has also installed a grenade launcher on another drone called the Queen of Hornet which has also been used successfully in battle.
The Bulava unit is part of Ukraine’s 3rd Mechanised Battalion of the Separate Presidential Brigade and it is leading the way in drone warfare innovation.
Colonel Philip Ingram, a former Army intelligence officer said that the drone demonstrated how innovative the Ukrainian military had become during the war with Russia.
He said: “The side that innovates more and more quickly than the other is the side that is most likely to win in the end.
“The Ukrainians are giving the West massive lessons in innovation, especially with drones and this is being used to inform wider NATO.
“Russia is innovating too but not as fast and not as competently as the Ukrainians – Ukraine is proactive – Russia is reactive but we have forgotten the utility of innovations and are having to relearn it.”
