Russian military institutions are working on a program of robotization of the army that will introduce combat robots able to act independently on the battlefield, deputy head of the Defense Ministry Pavel Popov said in an interview with the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.
Special military units of robots will be operated by a united control system, Popov said, adding that many robotic and pilotless vehicles are already employed in the Russian military.
Military expert Viktor Murakhovsky confirmed that Russia is actively developing new robotic machinery, though the concept is not widely discussed, Moskovsky Komsomolets reported.
"We cannot talk about a serious 'leap forward' in robotics before the artificial intelligence is developed, but robots still make continuous progress," Murakhovsky said, adding that the current tests of innovative pattern recognition algorithms may "show curious results."
According to experts, the supply of new systems to the army in the next two years will mark a milestone for Russian robotics, Moskovsky Komsomolets reported.