Syrian rebels unveil 'Mad Max-style' home-built tank controlled by gamepad from a Sony Playstation
-Scrapyard vehicle built on the chassis of an old diesel car
-Features five cameras and a remotely controlled machine gun
-Now heading towards flashpoint city of Aleppo to join rebel offensive
By Daniel Miller
PUBLISHED: 12:35 GMT, 10 December 2012 | UPDATED: 18:09 GMT, 10 December 2012
It may look like something out of a Mad Max movie, but this home-built tank is the latest weapon in the Syrian rebels' desperate fight against the brutal regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The Sham II, which was cobbled together from the chassis of an old diesel car and parts salvaged from a junkyard in under a month, uses a controller from a Sony Playstation games console to aim a roof-mounted machine gun.
Inside the rusting steel panels a crew of two sit side-by-side in front of flatscreen TV's mounted on the wall.
The makeshift vehicle is now heading towards the city of Aleppo to join the rebel offensive where it could encounter fearsome T-72 tanks used by the Assad regime. And while the Sham II would be hopelessly outclassed if it came face-to-face with one of the Russian-built T72s, it does still have a few tricks up its sleeve. The fully-enclosed vehicle is made from light steel is about four metres in length and two metres across, mounted with a 7.62 mm machinegun controlled from inside the cabin.
It has five cameras: three at the front, one in the back and another attached to the gun. The crew inside the cabin are fully protected, with the driver maneuvering the vehicle by watching a screen which displays video from the cameras. The gunner, seated next to the driver, can activate the machinegun by watching another screen and using the gamepad equipped with push buttons. The metal walls are 2.5 centimetres thick and said to be able to resist up to 23 mm cannon fire. The vehicle, however, can not withstand a rocket-propelled grenade or tank fire.
'This is my brother, a trained engineer, who got the idea. We got a car, left its diesel motor on the chassis and built the engine,' says Abud, based in a rebel command centre in Bishqatin, near the flashpoint city of Aleppo. 'Not including from the gun, the vehicle costs about $10,000,' he said. Sham II, as the name suggests, is an enhanced version of its predecessor. The earlier model shielded the driver but the rest of the crew were exposed to enemy fire.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2245815/Syrian-rebels-unveil-Mad-Max-style-home-tank-controlled-Playstation-gamepad.html#ixzz2EgBEAsYC
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