Syrian rebels are taking a page out of the US Military's handbook, slapping together a "tank" and using one dusty PlayStation-esque controller (no analog sticks? Give 'em a break, rebels aren't known for having a balling munitions budget) to control it. Check out the video of this Frankenstein styled tank amalgamation below.
OK, it's not exactly a drone that a pilot / driver can control from miles away, but it's still pretty impressive, not to mention intimidating. Dubbed the Sham II (it's a reference to ancient Syria, not the fact that it looks like a pretty shoddy contraption) is outfitted with a 7.62 mm machine gun, five cameras -- three in the front, one mounted on or near the machine gun, and one in the back -- and an operating headlight.
Technically classified as a light infantry weapon, rebels threw this together for the cost of about $10,000 and took about a month's work, according to one rebel fighter whose brother designed and built it. The vehicle is reportedly covered with steel plating approximately 2.5 centimeters thick, keeping the crew inside safe from everything but RPG's or tank fire.
You may not see this in the next Call of Duty, but it could pop up on the evening news. Despite that it looks more like it belongs in an episode of "BattleBots," the rebels are bringing it into battle. According to Al Arabiya News, the "Sham I has already been deployed in combat while Sham II is soon to join the fray in Aleppo as part of the Saad Benmoaz battalion of the al-Ansar brigade."
Details provided by The Long War Journal.