Frightening footage has been released of a Russian drone equipped with an automatic rifle which reportedly has the capability to shoot down a small aircraft.

The video shows the as-yet unnamed device taking off on a patch of concrete before shooting a balloon and a toy plane down with absolute ease with its built-in weaponry.

Leading Russian defence contractor Almaz Antey has won the patent for this new drone – the company owned by the Kremlin has previously built some of the country's most lethal missiles.

The AK-47 gun housed around a set of wings has a flight time of 40 minutes and is controlled by an operator wearing a visor who aims the gun through a live video link, according to military news site Foxtrot Alpha .

It's understood work started on the drone in 2016 and the video which surfaced online is a demonstration of its capabilities, captioned as an "experimental prototype".

A standard AK47 rifle can fire 600 rounds per minute at targets up to 300 metres away and this terrifying prospect of an aerial version is the stuff of nightmares.

Russia has unveiled a number of unusual drones in recent years, including an underwater version revealed last year to fend off military divers using an attached assault rifle.

While the Kremlin showed off exploding kamikaze drones last month at Dubai's international IDEX arms exhibition.

And Russian are also rerpotedly building a 'ground force’ of killer robots – including deadly swarm of cat-sized ‘bomber drones’ and self-driving tanks.

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