• Video footage appears to show Ukraine’s new “Ironclad” combat drone in action.

• It portrays the vehicle firing its M2 machine gun on a Russian outpost.

• The video, which was shared by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

Video footage released by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense earlier this month appears to show Ukraine’s new “Ironclad” combat drone vehicle in action against Russian forces.

The video, which was shared on X, formerly Twitter, bears the insignia of Ukraine’s 5th Separate Assault Brigade, and it appears to show the remotely-controlled drone firing its M2 machine gun on a Russian outpost.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, said in a post on Facebook in September that the drone was being used to “assault enemy positions, conduct reconnaissance and provide fire support to the military.”

“This is a revolutionary product from Ukrainian engineers at Roboneers that changes the way warfare is conducted and helps save the most valuable thing – the lives of our military,” Fedorov said.

He continued that the drone can hit speeds of more than 12 mph and comes with a Shablya M2 machine gun turret, adding that it also had “an armored shell that protects it from small arms.”

The Shablya system is a remotely operated “combat platform” designed to be attached to certain vehicles or objects, the manufacturer Roboneers says on its website.

According to the manufacturer, the system can rotate a full 360 degrees and can detect human-sized targets up to 1,800 meters, or around 5,900 feet, away. It also features a thermal imaging camera.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has been marked by the prevalent use of drones and technological advances as both sides seek to carry out assaults while limiting losses to their forces.

Russia has repeatedly turned to Iranian-made Shahed “kamikaze” drones in its attacks on Ukraine.

Ukraine has also looked to develop drones that can attack enemy positions from the land and the sea.

In July, Ukraine unveiled a new sea drone to CNN that was designed to limit the Russian fleet’s operations in the Black Sea. The report said the drone was packed with hundreds of pounds of explosives and could hit targets 500 miles away.

One video shared on X also highlighted how Ukrainian soldiers were building their own “kamikaze” ground drones, with the footage appearing to show a vehicle strapped with 55 pounds of explosives traveling through over “4 km of enemy-controlled territory” to take out a road bridge.

But drone warfare has arguably ground the war to a halt, especially along the eastern front and the Dnipro River, where fighting has been particularly fierce in recent months.

“Nobody really knows how to advance right now. Everything gets smashed up by drones and artillery,” Gleb Molchanov, a Ukrainian drone operator, told The Guardian.

“It’s a war of armor against projectiles. At the moment, projectiles are winning,” he added.

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