Legendary weapons manufacturer Kalashnikov has unveiled a flying motorbike which could be unleashed by Vladimir Putin if Russia goes into battle.
In a clip of the device being tested, shot in a hangar, a helmeted pilot is seen climbing aboard the small aircraft, which resembles a car roof rack surrounded by eight propellers.
The pilot for the Kalashnikov Concern group, which is based in the city of Izhevsk in central Russia’s Udmurt Republic region, is seen sitting surrounded by the propellers and with a battery to power them mounted behind him.
The helmeted pilot testing the new device produced by legendary Russian arms manufacturer Kalashnikov
The small aircraft, seen here on the ground, resembles a car roof rack surrounded by eight propellers
He demonstrates how the craft can be controlled by tilting the propellers using a joystick, displaying a fine level of control.
In the test video the craft never goes above a few feet high or faster than a few miles per hour, though the vehicle’s maximum flight height and speed were not released.
At the end of the clip the bare roof-rack design is seen covered in fibreglass bodywork that makes it look more like a stylish go-kart.
It was not clear for what market Kalashnikov intends their new product but the firm states it was designed for a single pilot plus cargo, meaning it could potentially be used by a soldier carrying weapons.
Kalashnikov spokeswoman Sofia Ivanova said: ‘These days the machine is going through the so-called run-in.
‘In the nearest future we will show the practical application.’
The first flight took place in front of Sergey Cheremezov, 65, the CEO of Rostec Corporation, chairman of the Union of Russian Mechanical Engineers, who is also a lieutenant-general.
The Kalashnikov Concern, which has diversified its products beyond weapons in recent years, has also been testing electric motorbikes for police officers to use this year.
The bikes were said to be more manoeuvrable than cars and environmentally friendly, and boast a practical 93-mile range.
It was not clear for what market Kalashnikov intends their new product but the firm states it was designed for a single pilot plus cargo, meaning it could potentially be used by a soldier carrying weapons
Last month, Putin introduced the newest weapon in his arsenal – the enormous Schit machine designed to take his country’s crowd control to the next level.
The giant anti-riot vehicle is the work of Russia’s largest arms manufacturer and the company behind the Kalashnikov rifle.
The exact specifications of the monster vehicle have yet to be released, but it looks similar to an 18-tonne police vehicle called The Bozena Riot, made in Slovakia, engineered to protect officers from football hooligans, violent mobs, and aggressive political protesters.
Slovakia’s police version is equipped with water cannon and gas canisters, and is designed to stop rioters in their tracks.
Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of Klashnikov sub-machin egun holds his AK-47 with serial number 1 during the celebration of the 60th anniversary of his famous weapon
It can shelter up to 38 riot officers behind its 24ft main shield, which is bullet and fire-proof, and can be expanded or retracted to fit down different sized streets.
Russia’s model has been built by Kalashnikov Concern, which produces 95 percent of the weapons in the country and supplies arms to 27 nations around the world.
The Kalashnikov Group is probably most famous for the AK-47 assault, which was invented by Mikhail Kalashnikov in the former Soviet Union in 1947.
More than 100 million Kalashnikov rifles have been sold worldwide, accounting for a fifth of the entire global stock of firearms.
A study by the World Bank revealed between 20,000 and 100,000 people are killed every year by handheld guns in conflicts around the world.
It is predicted most of these were attributable to the AK-47.
The gun has since been adopted as the weapon of choice by the world’s barbaric terror groups including Islamic State, who used AK-47s to spray bullets into the crowd at the Bataclan in Paris in the November 2015 atrocities.
In the same year, Tunisian Seifeddine Rezgui waged a campaign of terror in the popular resort of Sousse as he fired Kalashnikovs killing 38 holiday makers.
Among other Kalshnikov lines are speedboats, clothes and missiles.
Siberian-born inventor Kalashnikov died aged 94 in 2013.