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Playstation Controller Runs Syrian Rebel Tank
SternisheFan writes "As Syria's rebels work to overthrow the tank-equipped Assad regime, they've learned that it helps to have tanks of their own. They deserve bonus points for integrating video game technology. This is no exaggeration. Have a look at the opposition forces' "100 percent made in Syria" armored vehicle, the Sham II.
Named for ancient Syria and assembled out of spare parts over the course of a month, the Sham II is sort of rough around the edges, but it's got impressive guts. It rides on the chassis of an old diesel car and is fully encased in light steel that's rusted from the elements. Five cameras are mounted around the tank's outside, and there's a machine gun mounted on a turning turret. Inside, it kind of looks like a man cave. A couple of flat screen TVs are mounted on opposite walls. The driver sits in front of one, controlling the vehicle with a steering wheel, and the gunner sits at the other, aiming the machine gun with a Playstation controller."
Novel, but let's hope there's no electrical failure or a single wire in that video system that comes loose, otherwise they are sitting in a dark metal box without a single port or window. Military tanks have multiple methods the driver can see outside in addition to any electronic systems - optical periscopes, a hatch directly above the driver that they can raise their seat and literally stick their head out while driving, etc.
Better known as 318230.
Judging by the buttons 1,2,3,4 I'd say this is a generic pc gamepad not a playstation controller.
are going to be on the ITAR list?
Seriously though, the gap between technology available to consumers and that available to the military only has narrowed drastically over the last decade or two. And I think it's a good thing - it helps to level the playing field between oppressive regimes, (or would-be oppressive regimes), and citizens.
Anything that puts power into the hands of the otherwise disenfranchised is probably, on the whole, a good thing.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
Call of Duty: Duct Tape Ops
WOW, this is not a tank, its a death trap. An old diesel car with light steel construction? I wouldn't drive this to my local geto grocery store much less a war zone with real tanks and explosives. Nice try, but fail...
Everyone knows you use a mouse and keyboard! This choice of input devices has doomed the rebels to failure!
"going through" is probably more accurate than you intended...
My guess is that something would penetrate, keep on going, penetrate out the other side, then explode. Hell, the occupants might be safer for that...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Light Armored Vehicle maybe, but not a tank... Tanks have a heavy caliber main gun with machine gun as backups. A vehicle with only a machine gun isn't a tank... Probably well within the category of LAV though.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
by a common spike strip.
--- If the bible proves the existence of God, then Superman comics prove the existence of Superman.
Why shine a IR laser when you can launch a RPG?
On the modern battlefield if they see you, you're dead. This is not the era of wooden ships and iron men, or even WWII battleships.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
That is not a tank. That's an armored car.
A tank requires three things: heavy armor, a turret-mounted gun capable of anti-tank combat, and the use of tracks instead of wheels.
This arguably fails all three. It's a wheeled vehicle, and that 7.62mm gun may as well be paintballs to other tanks - it's a common caliber for the coax gun on modern tanks, for use when you don't want to waste your expensive ammo against mere infantry. The armor is definitely insufficient to handle modern tanks, but it would have been enough for 20's and '30s tanks (or perhaps WW2-era Italian or Japanese tanks), so you could probably squeeze it in.
That said, as long as the rebels use it intelligently, an armored car is a very useful tool. Keep it in the cities, where tanks have difficulty maneuvering, but use its mobility to outflank infantry. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts - it doesn't look like it could handle modern anti-tank missiles, but it *might* stand up to an RPG-7 or so.
Umm, that's not a Playstation controller, or at least not an official first-party one. Give how many PC controllers have used that style, it's more likely just some generic PC controller.
These guys are out to smash the state; but they aren't the sort of depraved nihilists who violate EULAs!
I was actually thinking of Stripes ...
Man I wanted that bad ass RV when I was a kid.
The Heemeyer Bulldozer was arguably a much more potent vehicle than this little steel-plated car. He wasn't stopped until a combination of a blown radiator and getting stuck high-centered on a basement wall got him- I think that ramming this little steel-plated car with a pickup truck would take it out of commission. Heemeyer took out numerous buildings and vehicles and despite being shot at repeatedly managed to keep going. Had he done a more thorough job armoring his radiator (yes, I know that it needs airflow and that one can only armor it so much) and knowing his environment (not getting stuck in the basement) then he might have managed to continue his rampage until military forces with a portable rocket launcher showed up.
I have a friend that owns a WWII Ford M8 Greyhound and has several other WWII-era light armored vehicles, like a half-track armored truck. The designer of this car seems to have missed the important part that too much open interior is not necessarily an advantage. That half-track doesn't have a lot of interior space, literally enough for the soldiers and their equipment, and because of that, the same amount of mass for the vehicle can accommodate thicker armor where it matters, around the people. The vehicle isn't meant to survive a pounding, it's meant to keep its occupants alive when hit, so that they can get out and counterattack. This little car doesn't strike me as designed with that in mind.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Here's 3/8" steel scrap at 50 yards with 7.62x39 fired from an AK47. I recommend muting the volume.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zke2JLYWlMc
It'll go right through it and then proceed to shred the occupants of the vehicle, incidentally also spraying whoever is missed with molten steel.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
Achmed, we have air conditioning now!
They would have used PS3s but sadly they only found ones that were updated and stripped of their ability to run Linux.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
. . . by the guys using a mouse and keyboard. Everyone knows the accuracy and response time of an optical mouse is an order of magnitude greater than a d-stick.
While that's a nice video, both articles cite the thickness at 2.5cm, or 1 inch.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black