Soldier Chen Wei states in a video from state broadcaster CCTV that the dog was ideal for combat operations, supplanting humans to carry out surveillance, identify (the) enemy and strike the target.

The two-minute video, produced during the China-Cambodia "Golden Dragon 2024" exercise, also depicts the robot dog walking, hopping, lying down, and moving backwards under the control of a remote operator.

In one exercise, the rifle-firing robot leads an infantry unit into a simulated building.

The latter portion of the video displays an automatic rifle mounted beneath a six-rotor aerial drone, demonstrating what the video describes as China's "variety of intelligent unmanned equipment."

The military use of robot dogs is not new. A CCTV video from the previous year also spotlighted China's rifle-armed electronic canines in a joint exercise involving the Chinese, Cambodian, Lao, Malaysian, Thai, and Vietnamese militaries held in China last November. Giving them a gun is another matter.

In 2020, the US Air Force demonstrated how it used robotic dogs as one component in its Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), which employs artificial intelligence and rapid data analytics to detect and counter threats to US military assets.

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, drones have become a common sight on the battlefield, on land, sea, and air, with inexpensive remotely controlled vehicles capable of taking out sophisticated military machines like tanks and even warships.

China is one of the world's leading drone exporters, but last year its Commerce Ministry imposed export controls on drone technology, citing the need to "safeguard national security and interests."