China has showcased a robot dog equipped with an automatic rifle mounted on its back during ongoing joint military exercises with Cambodia, CNN reported. A video of the combat-ready robot dog has been shared on YouTube by the China-backed CCTV Video News Agency.

"It can serve as a new member in our urban combat operations, replacing our (human) members to conduct reconnaissance and identify (the) enemy and strike the target," a soldier named Chen Wei said in the video, as reported by CNN.

During the military exercise, China also showcased a "variety of intelligent unmanned equipment" like cargo drones and reconnaissance drones.

Sharing a video clip from the military exercise on Saturday, CCTV Video News Agency described it as "Intelligent equipment such as robot dog and drones are in spotlight at the ongoing China-Cambodia "Golden Dragon 2024" joint military exercise."

In the video, the robot dog is shown walking, hopping, lying down, and moving backwards, all while being controlled by a remote operator. A Chinese soldier in the video states that the robot dog weighs 15 kilograms and is equipped with a 4D wide-angle perception system.

"It can serve as a new member in our urban combat operations, replacing our (human) members to conduct reconnaissance and identify (the) enemy and strike the target," a soldier named Chen Wei said in the video.

The video claims that with batteries and a power system located in its abdomen, the robot dog can operate for two to four hours. Additionally, in the video, the rifle-firing robot dog is depicted leading an infantry unit into a simulated building.

The ongoing China-Cambodia "Golden Dragon 2024" joint military exercise involves the participation of 1,315 Cambodian military personnel and 760 Chinese soldiers. These Golden Dragon exercises have been conducted regularly since 2016, coinciding with Cambodia's cancellation of similar exercises with the United States, known as Angkor Sentinel, around the same time.

In November 2023, rifle-armed robotic canines were shown in a joint exercise held in China involving the Chinese, Cambodian, Lao, Malaysian, Thai and Vietnamese militaries.

Image source: Getty images