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Ukraine Deploys Flame-Spewing Robot Called Krampus
If you’ve been reading my Ukraine War coverage here for a while, you know that since day one of the invasion, I have marveled at Ukraine’s ability to deploy battlefield technologies that were once the domain of science fiction (or a DARPA dry erase board).
Whether this power of invention is something inherent in the Ukrainian genome, the product of improvising under the threat of extermination, or a combination of both, we now have a new weapon of war to admire, and for the Russians to eventually copy.
Just when you thought Ukraine’s drone war couldn’t get more metal, along comes Krampus, a tracked, silent, battery-powered flamethrower robot straight out of a dystopian fever dream.
As for the name, I love it.
Chef’s kiss.
Naming a tracked flamethrower robot after the horned, half-goat, half-demon figure in Central and Eastern Alpine folklore who punishes naughty children on the night before Saint Nicholas Day. Priceless.
Officially approved by Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, this compact uncrewed ground vehicle (UGV) now joins more than 80 other domestically produced ground robots cleared for battlefield use.
But unlike many of its reconnaissance-focused cousins, Krampus was born to torch things.
