Russia's amphibious UAV is equal parts plane and hovercraft

Flying an unmanned aerial vehicle isn't usually the hard part, getting it on and off the ground is.

But thanks to the addition of an all-terrain hovercraft skirt, the Russian Federation's newest hybrid UAV will be able land and launch virtually any surface --from snow and sand to lakes and waterways, even stone-riddled roadways strewn with pebbles up to about 8 inches tall -- all while riding a protective cushion of air.

Code-named Chirok (roughly translated, "Teal"), this model is the latest reconnaissance and strike drone (RSD) to come out of United Instrument Corporation (UIC), a division of the state-owned Rostec company.

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