We’ve seen a lot of quadrotors — those drone-style helicopters — flying in pretty elaborate formations, which could almost be considered creepy, as of late. But put those quadrotor dances in context with this next one and they don’t hold a candle in terms of fear factor.

The creator of the FPS Russia YouTube channel has a new video that, within a day, has gone viral with more than 1 million hits showcasing a quadrotor drone equipped with a sub-machine gun. Without a formal name prescribed for it, he goes with “Charlene.”

The host of the show is clear to state this weaponized quadrotor is just a prototype that he considers a “weapon of the future.” Even as a prototype, he shows us that Charlene is still fully functional. See for yourself (content warning: strong language):



As you can see, the quadrotor is connected to a control held by the user to allow them to fly the machine and also have a view of what exactly the drone is seeing. The operator is able to use Charlene to take out dummy targets on a hill and even shows how it’s mobile enough to make it through a make shift window. Ensuring Charlene doesn’t get into the wrong hands, the operator zooms her into a car, which he then blows up — Charlene included.

Gizmodo speculates that it’s only a matter of time before weapons such as this are a reality. What do you think? Is the U.S. military working on similar designs?