Staff Sgt Christopher Fessenden is alive right now thanks to a toy truck. Seriously. The toy truck was always sent ahead of him in Afghanistan to look for roadside bombs. Last week, it ran into a tripwire and exploded.
Fessenden and five other soldiers used the toy truck, a Traxxas Stampede re-painted in desert camo, to sniff off bombs ahead of him. The truck, which was gifted to Fessenden by his brother, had a wireless video camera attached to it so the soldiers can see the possible dangers ahead of them. It’s amazing, Fessenden said the little truck had helped find four IEDs before meeting its maker when it ran into a tripwire tied to 227kg of explosives. Thankfully, it was just the truck.
In an email to his brother, Staff Sgt Fessenden says:
“We do mounted patrols, in trucks, and dismounted by foot. The funny thing is the Traxxis does faster speeds than the trucks we are operating in under the governing speed limit… so the Traxxis actually keeps up with us and is able to advance past us and give us eyes on target before we get there. Is it a toy? Yeah it is…is it fun… absolutely… but the guys here take the truck very seriously when out on [a]mission.”
Knowing that the truck is saving lives, Fessenden’s brother and a local shop owner are sending another one to him with the hopes of sending more to other soldiers. Watch the news report at ABC. [ABC News]
Jazz
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:10 AMThis is awesome. Such a simple solution to a very real and potentially fatal problem. Why hasn’t the US government come up with this already themselves?
Jon
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 11:18 AMNo doubt a version produced by the government would cost 100 times more for the same end product, and would be bogged down by paperwork.
Toys R Us, a few cans of desert coloured spray paint for camo and voila!
wsDK_II
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:11 AMThe saved soldiers may in turn kill innocent civilians, who might have been saved if the toy truck had not been there…
Ben H
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:15 AMOr they may not. What’s your point?
Adam
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:16 AMAh look at the cute wittle troll fishing for comments.
wsDK_II
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:50 AMFirst off; not trolling, however i did get 2 comments; Problem?
Mr Biggles
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 11:07 AMyou’re an idiot.
The IED would have possibly killed civilians too.
Speedgull
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:41 AMInteresting, using a toy to counter a bomb that is essentially made from a toys components themselves.
a lot of the IED that are being fielded are now essentially using the electronic componnents taken from cheap toys.
Dicksmith/Tandy outlets are pretty scarce in the eastern Stan
Effluvium Boy
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:54 AMhttp://bit.ly/psTWo7
attila
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:51 AMAwesome.
Also, as pointed out on QI the other night, bomb techs also use silly string in possibly booby trapped houses – as it will rest on any hard to see trip wires, but isn’t heavy enough to actually trigger it.
Craig
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:59 AMThe military can’t afford toy trucks, they spent all their money on this:
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/08/pentagons-lightning-gun-sold-for-scraps-on-ebay/
Sebastian
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 11:04 AMIt’s Traxxas (traxxas.com), not Traxxis! Gizmodo, at least don’t copy errors…
Sean
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 1:34 PMAs soon as the government buys something like this, the headlines change to “Army trusts safety of troops to toys” and the articles are filled with statements like “cobbled together from off the shelf components”, “no encryption” and “could be hacked into or controlled by insurgents”. Can’t win.