troops had to liquidate a group of militants with the support of a SU-34 destroyer-bomber, SU-24 naval aviation frontline bombers and MI-24 military transportation helicopters.

While many are familiar with this technology, as well as with the BPM, BTR and even the BPLA tanks, the appearance of robots in the Russian armed forces is a new phenomenon. Previously this kind of Russian technology could only be seen at various exhibitions.

It was understood that robotic combat platforms (as the military "robots" are properly called) had been included in the armed forces when they appeared in Kaliningrad at the World War II victory parade on May 9. However, it was unclear up to the very last moment how prepared the robots were to execute their military missions.

According to the press officeof the Western Military District, during the Platform-M exercises "the military robots were assigned to eliminate provisional illegal armed formations in urban conditions and striking stationary and mobile targets." It was also mentioned that the Platforms carried out their tasks alongside the little Grusha BPLA reconnaissance drones. The units were also used to gather intelligence and create a passage through minefields that, according to the exercise plan, had been laid by terrorists.

A deadly version of an animated character

The Platform-M is a remote controlled robotic unit on a crawler and externally it resembles the protagonist of the 2008 Pixar computer animation WALL-E.

The affinity between Platform-M and the animated character can also be seen in the robot's prototype, which appeared on the Russian internet in an animated presentation. In the