Syrian rebels’ DIY armor, complete with Playstation controlled guns

Happy Monday. To kick things off this week, check out this video of a homemade armored assault vehicle complete with a machine gun aimed via what looks like a Playstation controller. Little is known about the armored car, called the Sham II, other than it’s built on a car chassis and the driver and gunner ...

Happy Monday. To kick things off this week, check out this video of a homemade armored assault vehicle complete with a machine gun aimed via what looks like a Playstation controller.

Happy Monday. To kick things off this week, check out this video of a homemade armored assault vehicle complete with a machine gun aimed via what looks like a Playstation controller.

Little is known about the armored car, called the Sham II, other than it’s built on a car chassis and the driver and gunner rely on video cameras to steer it. Still, you’ve got to admit, it’s a great example of battlefield-borne weaponry.

It’s worth noting that the Sham II isn’t that advanced compared to the increasing number of tanks and armored personnel carriers that the rebels have been capturing from Syrian government forces, it will be interesting to see how or if it is used in combat.

This isn’t the first homemade armor that Syrian rebels have fielded. Check out this Suzuki pickup truck that’s been heavily armored to allow rebels to avoid government sniper fire. While you’re there, click the link to see the rebels using a gasoline tanker truck as an improvised flame-thrower.

After that, check out this slideshow on the rebels’ more traditional DIY weapons.

H/t to BI.

John Reed is a national security reporter for Foreign Policy. He comes to FP after editing Military.com’s publication Defense Tech and working as the associate editor of DoDBuzz. Between 2007 and 2010, he covered major trends in military aviation and the defense industry around the world for Defense News and Inside the Air Force. Before moving to Washington in August 2007, Reed worked in corporate sales and business development for a Swedish IT firm, The Meltwater Group in Mountain View CA, and Philadelphia, PA. Prior to that, he worked as a reporter at the Tracy Press and the Scotts Valley Press-Banner newspapers in California. His first story as a professional reporter involved chasing escaped emus around California’s central valley with Mexican cowboys armed with lassos and local police armed with shotguns. Luckily for the giant birds, the cowboys caught them first and the emus were ok. A New England native, Reed graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a dual degree in international affairs and history.

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