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Necessity, so they say, is the mother of invention — and if you need a tank but don’t have one to hand, it’s time to get creative. Like these Syrian rebels, who threw together this tank after a trip to a junk yard.
Called the Sham Il, it’s built around an old car chassis but has some new — if unattractive — armoured bodywork, along with a machine gun turret. No windows, obviously, so instead there are external cameras, which route footage to an LCD, so the driver can see what’s going on outside.
Perhaps the best part, though, is that the machine gun is aimed and fired using what looks like a PlayStation controller. No, really. [YouTube via Verge]
Can I assume that these rebels have religiously watched and memorised every A-Team episode?
I think that’s called “training”
Tbh, it should be mandatory training materiel for anyone in a field where bodging is a necessity!
LOL! A-Team and Macgyver as well I suppose.
Don’t gimme no Assad-jabber!
Actually the PS3 controller (or a very similar clone) is used in British Army tanks’ targeting systems too – they found young squaddies picked it up and could use it immediately – a huge advantage compared to anything else.
I thought it was the 360 controller.
“I pity that fool al-Assad, i do!”
I can spot the weak point! No sloped slides.
Looks very dad’s army. I think it could shrug off light gunfire from a distance, but probably very little else.
That’s probably all it really needs to shrug off – more likely used as an armoured personnel carrier rather than a full-blown tank.
Yes, the term ‘tank’ maybe overkill. I thought about pointing out that it was technically an APC too.
Until the gunner realises he’s not playing GTA after having flattened the city and killed everyone in site
Stop calling it a tank. That’s failing even the most basic test of military vehicle recognition (track = tank, wheels = armored car)
Indeed. No treads, armor that I highly doubt could shrug off sustained small arms fire or a single RPG, let alone anything more potent, no big gun…it’s just a car with some scrap metal and a machine gun on it.
Also, unless most of the inside has been turned into engine and a massive fuel tank, it’s not going anywhere fast or for very long.
Its armour would more than likely be no more affective than this:
http://media.moddb.com/images/groups/1/3/2074/funny-pictures-cardboard-tank-MSw.jpg
I can’t imagine it would go very fast with all that added decor.
Beats this though
http://manyfor.com/lucky/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Homemade-tank.jpg
I’d prefer this
http://what-if.xkcd.com/imgs/a/21/jetpack_speeding.png
I didn’t know Obama had deployed Mr. MacGyver to Siria. Thought he would be retired by now.
Call of Duty: Syria Ops…
Taxi!
If that’s the Sham II I’m not sure I want to see what Sham I looks like…