They use a Steam Deck to control a weapon in Ukraine

A Steam Deck to fire a machine gun? When it comes to defending your country, you have to use your imagination…

A Ukrainian media has shown a new weapon which is being used in the ukrainian war. It is a kind of automated submachine guncontrolled by… a console Steam Deck.

It doesn’t seem like the most suitable hardware to control a weapon of war, but if you think about it, they make a lot of sense. Steam Deck It’s more compact than a laptop, and it has control sticks to aim a scope, or move a camera.

Valve’s console Steam Deck It is basically a laptop to play Steam games. But it offers the possibility of install full versions of Windows or Linuxso theoretically you can install any app you want, or program an app to control the gun, and operate some of the features with the Steam Deck.

The Ukrainian outlet TPO Media has published on Facebook and on Twitter some photos and a video of this weapon from the Ukrainian war called will knowwhich you can see here:

At the beginning of the video you can see the case, with military camouflage, that contains the Steam Deck. So it looks like an official complement to the weapon.

As described by TPO Media: “Saber is a Ukrainian remote controlled automated fire fighting system designed for stationary installation on fixed objects or special vehicles. The Saber is coordinated by a control panel, a camera and a monitor, which allows it to fight at a distance of up to 500 meters from the installation, thus saving the life of the operator.“.

And continues: “The combat platform can be permanently installed at checkpoints, borders and other areas, even to shoot down low-flying enemy drones. The platform can be equipped with any light anti-personnel or anti-tank weapon, such as a Kalashnikov machine gun“.

From what it seems, its origin is a automatic fire suppression system by means of an aspressor, which has been adapted to convert it into a machine gun or other weapon that can automatically target both enemy soldiers and drones. It doesn’t explain what the Steam Deck is for.

This ukrainian gun controlled by a Steam DeckIt’s the most extreme use we’ve seen for Valve’s popular console.