The company that makes AK-47s just built a working hoverbike

The Russian company that makes the iconic AK-47 machine gun is branching out into rideables — specifically flying rideables. (Is that a thing?) Kalashnikov Concern — part of the Russian defense giant Rostec, which is named after AK-47 designer Mikhail Kalashnikov — demonstrated its unnamed prototype on Monday, according to Popular Mechanics. It looks similar to a handful of drone-quadcopter-hoverbike hybrids that we’ve seen popping up around the internet with increasing frequency.

Kalashnikov is calling it a “flying car,” but that seems more aspirational than accurate. Without a wheel-base, it’s a hard to see how anyone could mistake this thing for a car. Of course, that hasn’t stopped a variety of companies from mislabeling their prototypes as flying cars.

As you can see in the above video, there’s not much to this thing: just eight rotors joined together by a skeletal frame, a couple of joysticks, and what appears to be a couple of batteries located under the rider. At the end of the video, you can see a shell or chassis superimposed over the vehicle, which gives you a better sense of how Kalashnikov might commercialize it.

Russia is becoming a hotbed for these types of aircraft. Earlier this year, a Russian drone company called Hoversurf showed off a prototype it called the Scorpion-3, a single-seat, electric-powered hoverbike. Meanwhile, a Swedish inventor has been posting videos on YouTube demonstrating his device that looks essentially like a lawn chair wedged in between dozens of spinning rotors.

YouTube sensation and inventor Colin Furze showed off his hoverbike last year, which does legitimately hover for short periods of time. And the US Department of Defense recently announced a deal with Malloy Aeronautics, a UK-based company, to develop the vehicle for the Army. Dubai’s Road and Transportation Authority struck a deal with both Volocopter and Ehang to test its passenger ready drones in the skies over the city later this year. (Volocopter’s is being tested out this week.)

But the aircraft that Kalashnikov’s prototype most closely resembles is probably Google co-founder Larry Page’s Kitty Hawk Flyer. Page has promised that his “all-electric aircraft” will go on sale later this year and won’t require a pilot’s license to use — just plenty of life insurance and a willingness to part ways with an appendage or two.