Necessity is the mother of invention and small arms fire is the mother of the light armoured vehicle developed by rebels near Aleppo, Syria. The steel skin should deflect most rounds from an AK-47 or heavier machine-gun, the mobility should be great to probe defences and the camera and electronic control system of a machine-gun should allow rapid deployment of fire-power, just what is needed to assault the airport at Aleppo.
Sham II: New fighting machine of Syria rebels.
Being a welder, shooter and a computer-guy, I can appreciate this tool of liberation. It will take guts to fight in this but in the right situation it could prove valuable for reconnaissance as well as attack/defence/re-supply. A big problem in urban warfare are snipers. This thing should allow movement with much less worry about that. If an enemy in a defensive position cannot prevent movement, they are lost.
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One RPG and it is toast.
dougman the fact its possible One RPG and toast its a good design. Look at it the thing might only have 1 crew inside.
Next question when are we going to see the first Syria automated tank attack drone.
Actually I can go cheaper then a RPG, how about spike strips and molotovs.
Yes automated drones is the way of the future, I mentioned that to a few flying buddies about a decade ago. They laughed at me, but what do we see nowadays?
Be careful or the winbreds will jump in and start ranting about how the Syrian rebels are Satan because they want to impose an Islamic culture on their own territory.
So they took a car, welded some metal to it, and got a remote control to move and fire the MG.
This is called a tank nowadays?
Me, I’d call it a death trap. Incidentally, what fire suppression system is installed? Oh, you mean none? I hear death by immolation is beautiful.
AnteMeridian wrote, “I hear death by immolation is beautiful.”
It sure beats not being able to cross the street which is the situation in much of Aleppo. Folks are starving because they cannot get to shops. “Snipers” are killing children. Light armour of any kind is a big step forward to probe and outflank Assad’s brutes. The car is diesel so it’s a lot less likely to ignite than gasoline.
Adam King wrote, “the Syrian rebels are Satan because they want to impose an Islamic culture on their own territory.”
Assad is muslim. This war is not about Islam but freedom. The politics and cultural differences will sort themselves out. For now competitors are all working against Assad because he is their common enemy. Arwa Damon, a CNN reporter is in Aleppo and reports that some of the rebels have picked up arms just to defend their homes and communities, literally. When someone is bombarding you with bombs and artillery, you will do whatever is necessary and possible to overcome the problems. Ordinary people are being resourceful and gradually wearing down Assad’s forces. They are attacking the airports at Aleppo and Damascus now, threatening to choke off Assad’s life-lines.
dougman wrote, “I can go cheaper then a RPG, how about spike strips and molotovs.”
Some of the rebels are launching Molotov cocktails and mortars with giant slingshots. Some are making rockets. There is a lot of talent and creativity in the people. They will get the job done sooner or later. The West was stupid not to have equipped them with better sooner. Tens of thousands have died because the West was persuaded that ordinary people would turn their weapons on the West. Silly. These are peaceful people provoked to war. Why not help them? France helped USA gain independence from England in the day. Has the USA forgotten? Does the “war on terror” prevent rational thought and compassion? Terrorists are made not born.
dougman wrote, “One RPG and it is toast.”
Not necessarily. The RPG is not that accurate and the missile is slow. The mobility of the vehicle is a great defence. While the speed of the missile is pretty good, it takes a bit of time to get up to speed so hitting a moving target from the side is not easy at ranges beyond 100m. Presumably, the vehicle would find use travelling quickly down streets using the element of surprise or in open country randomly changing speed and direction. If the gun is agile, it would be formidable against infantry, but I think its greatest value would be in reconnaissance which is priceless. Spray and pray with bullets would not be very effective to suppress that. If their camera has zoom and recording, valuable information could be turned into a plan of attack rapidly.
Silly me, that I thought this was a military contraption borne by desperation and lack of resources. So, this is actually a solution for aid needed families who desperately need to go shopping? How is that going to work?
In other news, I hear this new and revolutionary type of ammunition was “just recently introduced,” incendiary I think they call it.
And who knows, perhaps there are other, simpler, ways of igniting vehicles; perhaps one could use a bottle of flammable liquid with some sort of cloth set aflame to make a crude “flame cocktail,” perhaps one could name this “cocktail” after a randomly chosen Soviet prime minister or perhaps foreign minister… just thinking out loud here.
AntMeridian wrote, “this is actually a solution for aid needed families who desperately need to go shopping?”
As a means of outflanking snipers and reclaiming the streets, yes. The benefits of increased traffic/resupply/mobility has all kinds of advantages over cowering in basements.
AnteMeridian wrote:
“…perhaps one could name this “cocktail” after a randomly chosen Soviet prime minister or perhaps foreign minister… just thinking out loud here.”
You’re straining yourself trying to be clever. It’s painful to watch.
Down to Syria with you, Bob! Take your hunter’s rifle with you. You’d be useful for a change. Don’t forget to take kozmcrae and Douglas with you.
dougman spike strips are defeated by something so simple. Fill tyre with the correct percentage of grass or equal and you have run flat tyres so voiding spike strips. Not like that thing with the plating is a high speed device to normal road speeds. Grass filled tyres are good to about 80 km per hour.
Molotovs can kill even the most modern tanks. Correctly used. Tanks and humans need breathable air to operate.
AnteMeridian death by immolation is quite a common method to disable the most modern tanks with enough fuel burning on them. In fact the rebels have been using that. If you look closely at the front of the thing the extend out the front is an old school protected air intake. That would be a good place to aim an rpg if you could hit there. So it does have some Molotovs resistance.
–This is called a tank nowadays?–
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushmaster_Protected_Mobility_Vehicle The
It is a Protected Mobility vehicle. Normally these are fitted with 40 mm or larger main guns. Mostly to out range your general sniper.
Please note the video carefully of the Syria vehicle it is fitted with a security video system. What means if you miss with a RPG they will be able to rewind the video and see where you fired came from.
These are a big problem when they are in number and if some of them can be remote control. Ie blow one up the one behind it can take you out.
The the combination is a sniper hunter. Also it has 360 degree viewing while just looking at one screen.
Robert Pogson
–If their camera has zoom and recording–
Look at the video the software for the cammeras is open source. It has recording and play back and zoom its prity much standard shop video camera security software.
There is a good chance that this thing could avoid a general tank. If attacker misses it knows where the attacker is and can take avoid. Could be a useful item to lead a tank into a improvised explosive. With enough strength to take near by miss shots.
Its the old art of war. You don’t need equal equipment you just need to be able to move the game to a position that the gear you have can defeat their gear.
Protected Mobility vehicles if used with explosives can beat tanks.
Lord Penguin wrote, “Down to Syria with you, Bob! Take your hunter’s rifle with you.”
I am too old and fat, otherwise it would be a good retirement project for me. A good bolt-action rifle and scope would be quite useful in that environment. It might be cheaper and more useful to ship in / air-drop a container of those with instruction manuals rather than one high-maintenance me. CNN and others report that USA and others are supplying some things to the rebels like communication, intel. and specifically training on handling of those chemical warfare agents. The rebels are improvising and living off the land fairly well for now. What they lack in capability they make up for in determination.
@Queefer We don’t think the rebels are “satan,” only that the US shouldn’t support a rebellion that involves numerous foreign jihadis who’s goal is the establishment of a theocratic state that persecutes anyone who dares to worship differently than they do. Read this article if you’re interested in getting some sense pounded into that empty head of yours.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/12/10/dont_let_the_syrian_rebels_win
Rusty Trombone wrote, “the US shouldn’t support a rebellion that involves numerous foreign jihadis”.
Is that so the US will become even more hated than they are now? What will the next generation think of the country that did not come to their aid when Assad was bombing their cities?