Vladimir Putin's war gadget 'robo-balls' that look like Star Wars' BB-8 ready to deploy
Russia has a lot of high-tech military gadgets up its sleeve, but one in particular stands out - high-tech 'robo-balls' which can be used to grab secret intel from urban warzones around the world
As conflicts unfold in Ukraine, Yemen, Syria and elsewhere, the world is increasingly being exposed to some of the high-tech weapons of war that militaries have been quietly working on for years.
One of Russia's key tools that are yet to see confirmed action in Ukraine are £18,500 spy gadgets called 'Sphera'.
These 'robo-balls' which look like the BB-8 droid from 'Star Wars' have been battle-tested in Syria where they were used to gain secret intelligence.
They can be tossed into dense combat areas or 'trouble zones' and, using four video cameras with a 360-degree view, gather pictures and audio to be sent to military operatives up to 50 metres away.
The robo-balls also have LED lights as well as a microphone and transmitter to send radio signals.
They can operate in temperatures as cold as minus 20 C or as hot as +45 C, and are designed to be effective in street battles in urban war zones.
The Sphera were reportedly first put into action in 2018 in Syria, where Russia gave military support to the Assad regime. There, it is estimated that Russian air strikes killed around 6000 members of ISIS.
In that war, Putin ordered his military to take a tough stance in a televised meeting on December 11 2015. He said:
"I order you to act as tough as possible. Any target that poses a threat to Russian military grouping or ground infrastructure has to be destroyed immediately."
By late-2016, the Russian air force was firing around 60 airstrikes every day.
The conflict can be seen as a warm-up for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian military has attracted outcry from human rights organisations during its invasion of Ukraine, with some accusing it of firing indiscriminately on civilian areas using high-tech weapons such as 'vacuum bombs'.
These 'thermobaric' bombs, considered to be one of the most brutal war weapons that exist outside of nuclear weapons, are known to ignite a fireball that sucks in all surrounding oxygen to create a high-temperature explosion.
Though the use of these vacuum bombs have yet to be independently confirmed, experts have warned that Russia’s war on Ukraine could take a horrific turn if Putin decides to use the weapons against the former Soviet territory.