Published in Gaming

Steam Decks control real machine guns in Ukraine

by on02 May 2023


Gaming gets a little too real

Thanks to a crowdfunding campaign from 2014, soldiers in Ukraine are now using Steam Decks to operate a high-calibre machine gun turret remotely.

Dubbed “Sabre”, the system is unique to Ukraine and has been deployed on the front. It is connected to a large machine gun via a heavy cable, which means the Ukrainians can fight the enemy from a great distance. The Steam decks can handle a range of calibres, from light machine guns firing anti-tank rounds to an AK-47.

TPO footage shows the Sabre is firing a PKT belt-fed machine gun which is a heavy-barrelled stockless gun normally mounted on vehicles. The PKT has a solenoid trigger so it can be fired remotely, which is the cable running out of the back of the gun and into the complex of metal and wires on the side of the turret.

Using a Steam Deck comes from the days when the Ukrainians were flat broke and had to crowdfund to buy military tech. Sabre came from one of these programmes called “The People’s Project” which collected more than $12,000 over two years. Its initial goal was to deploy 10 of these systems.

 

Last modified on 02 May 2023
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