VLADMIR Putin is ready to draft his favourite “war toys” into battle in Ukraine – including robot tanks, kamikaze stealth drones and paratrooper dogs.
His terrifying high-tech arsenal could be deployed alongside crack paratroopers and artillery in a lightning advance on Kiev.
Around 127,000 Russian personnel and conventional heavy armour have massed near Ukraine's borders to the north and east.
Boris Johnson today warned the Kremlin strongman any invasion would be followed by a guerrilla war and the worst bloodshed since 1945.
He said: "No one would gain from such a catastrophe. If President Putin were to choose the path of bloodshed and destruction he must realise it would be both tragic and futile."
It came as Kiev claimed Russian troops were already inside Ukraine, attempting a failed "false flag" operation as a pretext for war.
Fears of an invasion "any day" have already knocked £55billion of FTSE 100 shares and sent gas prices soaring.
Britain has boosted Ukraine by rushing in 2,000 NLAW shoulder-launched missiles to blast Russian tanks.
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Nato allies have also put jets and planes on standby as Joe Biden considers sending 50,000 troops to the region.
But entrenched defenders – including thousands of volunteers – face a withering blitz from a fiendish array of space age weapons dreamt up by Putin’s boffins.
The conflict could see the first combat use of remote-controlled tanks, and the first ever aerial dogfights between unmanned drones.
Russian firepower within range of Ukraine’s frontiers today include:
Robot tanks
Kremlin-backed scientists claim to have perfected the world’s first autonomous robot tanks, which could be used to wipe out Ukrainian trench positions.
After combat tests in Syria, the first unit of Uran-9 strike robots is already operational, according to Russian defence officials.
It is thought they can act independently and in swarms using AI, as well as by remote control.
Defence minister Sergei Shoigu boasted: "Serial production of combat robots has begun.
“We already have not just experimental prototypes, but robots which can really be shown in sci-fi movies, capable of fighting on their own.”
Shoigu described the fearsome machines – driverless mini tanks bristling with sensors, rockets, a heavy machine gun and a flamethrower – as Moscow’s “weapons of tomorrow”.
And it could prove the perfect weapon for attacks on Ukrainian trenches snaking 250 miles through the eastern Donbas region occupied by Russia-backed separatists.
Russia is also developing an even more fearsome robot tank, the BMPT-72 "Terminator", which can allegedly survive nuclear blasts and shoot planes from the sky.
And the "invisible" T-14 robot super-tank is said to be able to wipe out enemies with no human control.
'Flying Kalashnikov' sky mines
Aerial minefields of X-winged Lancet kamikaze drones – dubbed “The Flying Kalashnikov” – could take on Ukraine’s own unmanned warplanes.
Scores of the space-age craft are set to go into “loiter mode” above the battlefield to take out the enemy's unmanned strike and surveillance craft.
Russian sources also warned British or US naval vessels could face attack from the lethal sentinels in the sky.
The warning came after Russia opened fire on the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Defender as she sailed off Crimea last June.
Modern warfare’s first ever drone dogfights look certain to break out over Donbas with the launch of the “The Flying Kalashnikov” – also believed to have been battle tested in Syria.
But Russia’s Lancet weapons are said to fly twice as fast as Ukraine’s Turkish-made Bayraktar drones.
A pro-Kremlin military source said: “Russia has something that cools the zeal of those who want to fight – this thing also mines the sky.”
Dogtroopers
An army or paratrooper dogs could be flown into the frontline under specially adapted tandem chutes with their handlers.
Training video showed the hounds – wearing body armour and dark glasses – being dropped from 13,000ft from Mi-8 helicopters with Russian National Guard special forces.
“World First” tests proved a success with the highly trained animals ready to join combat missions seconds after their paws hit the ground.
They could be used in Ukraine for close quarter security for troops and combat rescue operations.
Putin gave the Dogs of War technology his personal seal of approval with a visit to Ivanovo factory, east of Moscow, which produced the proto-type canine chutes last year.
'Flying-swimming' tank
An incredible lightweight tank capable of being parachuted into battle on land or in water is also said to be ready for action.
Video of trials has shown the Sprut-SDM1 being dropped on special multiple parachute canopies before powering into the Black Sea while continuing to blast targets from the water.
The versatile 18-ton war machine has the firepower of a Russian T-90 tank but can hit targets three miles away while being navigated at sea.
Russian makers Rostec said: “It showed high navigability during inspections in the Black Sea, and also demonstrated its ability to be transported by large landing ships.”
It passed shoot to kill tests in which its 125mm 2S25 self-propelled anti-tank gun fired salvos while it was rocked by waves up to 4ft high.
Kalashnikov self-firing gun
Russia is close to perfecting a revolutionary new-age Kalashnikov rifle “with its own brain” – said to be capable of finding and killing enemies.
A prototype was shown recently to Vladimir Putin’s defence minister Shoigu at a major arms show.
The weapon will not only identify the target but ends the need for the shooter to pull the trigger, say its designers.
Chief designer Sergey Urzhumtsev said: “We have already created some elements of the system.
"Artificial intelligence already allows almost complete automation of the processes of identification, aiming and tracking of targets, as well as the execution of a shot.
“We demonstrated them for the first time, including to the Russian Minister of Defence as part of at the international military-technical forum Army-2021.”
Urzhumtsev added that Russian soldier of the future will will only need to “give permission” to their weapons to find and kill their enemies.
A Russian technical report said the new gun not only helps soldiers take aim, it ”replaces the human need to physically impact the weapon, to pull the trigger.”
'Hunter' stealth drone
The first of Russia’s lethal new stealth combat drones – the S-70 Okhotnik, meaning Hunter – has been rolled out at a secret Siberian defence plant.
The Hunter’s flat, tail-less airframe is designed to make it invisible to radar while it is capable of flying from Moscow to London and back on a single mission.
Russian Su-57 fighter pilots of the future will go into battle supported by up to four of the pilotless drones.
Hunters are equipped with missiles plus electro-optical spying radar and reconnaissance gear.
Hundreds are now in service after a prototype was unveiled in 2019, controlled first by an operator and then from the cockpit of an accompanying fighter jet.
Russian Deputy Defence Minister Alexey Krivoruchko said: ”The drone’s roll-out signifies the end of its assembly as a whole and its outfitting with all the required onboard equipment.”
Vladimir Putin personally oversaw the development of Russia’s drone air force, boasting recently that 2,000 Russian war machines now fly without pilots.
He added: “We need to continue to work on them, including the use of artificial intelligence.
“And the experience we have in using them.”
A defence source told The Sun: “Britain and the US have somewhat belatedly armed Ukraine while Putin has spent years taking a personal interest in this war technology.
“He is certain to want to see the rewards of Russia’s huge investment if war breaks out.”
The US is playing catch-up in the development of new weapons after warnings it is falling behind Russia and China in a new high-tech arms race.
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