Kalashnikov, Making Electric Motorcycles for Russian Military

Kalashnikov, the name immediately brings thoughts of one of the most iconic weapons of the last 60 years. But the manufacturers of Russia’s famous AK-47 military rifles and their variants are branching out. The company recently demonstrated an electric motorcycle that will be used for Russia’s military as well as their police.

The new motorcycle is being manufactured as a dirt bike and as a street machine to be used by Russian police forces

Kalashnikov Group announced that 50 of the police motorcycles will be used by law enforcement during the 2018 World Cup in Russia, as reported by Lanesplitter. The police model has a range of 150 kilometers, or about 93 miles, according to Kalashnikov, and the bikes are being built by Russian motorcycle manufacturer IZH, a subsidiary of Kalashnikov.

Other than that, not much is known about the technical specifications of the new bikes. You can watch a video from Kalashnikov of a cool rider with no helmet and a bandana hopping on the military version of the electric bike and cruising over some mild off-road terrain.

Electric dirt bikes have several advantages, especially for Special Operations units. They are much quieter and are lighter. The United States is currently developing a “stealth-type” dirt bike that can either operate in battery mode or as a multi-fuel combustion engine that can operate like a normal dirt bike or generate electricity.

To read the entire article from Popular Mechanics, click here:

Photo courtesy Kalashnikov