Air Force Buys 300 Playstation 3 Consoles for "Research"
This week, the Air Force submitted a formal request for proposal for 300 Playstation3 consoles designated for research. Research? According to the RFP,the Air Force Research Laboratory is conducting a technology assessment of certain cell processors. The processors in the Sony PlayStation 3 are "the only brand on the market that utilizes the specific cell processor characteristics needed for this program at an acceptable cost."
Discuss "Air Force Buys 300 Playstation 3 Consoles for "Research"" here. Read the article.
This week, the Air Force submitted a formal request for proposal for 300 Playstation3 consoles designated for research. Research? According to the RFP,the Air Force Research Laboratory is conducting a technology assessment of certain cell processors. The processors in the Sony PlayStation 3 are "the only brand on the market that utilizes the specific cell processor characteristics needed for this program at an acceptable cost."
Discuss "Air Force Buys 300 Playstation 3 Consoles for "Research"" here. Read the article.
I'm not up on my intellectual property rights law, but isn't backwards engineering illegal? If they aren't using them to engineer products from the design and they want that type of processor, wouldn't it be cheaper to buy the cell processors directly from the manufacturer or Sony? Taxpayer dollars hard at work again.
As a recently retired USAF member, I can say I have written dozens of requests like this for contract fulfillment in the past. So I can explain why the "bid request" looks the way it does. Due to strict purchasing laws and regulations placed on the military and DOD and to prevent favoritism of certain companies over others and unfair bidding practices. In years past contracts were awarded by the military going to lets say Boeing Aircraft and saying I want this airplane but general or Congressmen so and so has a cousin or friend he owes a political favor to says well you need to buy it from Grumman Aviation and then you can get the money or else no money for you. So the "open bidding blind contract laws were put in place to prevent this type of "corruption". However you as the buyer for the USAF want to use a specific system. The way the laws are written you would have to say ie: I want a computer game system that can play video games. The contracting office puts that out in the open bid market and then awards it to the company that most closely meets the request at the lowest cost and awards the contract. Then when the requester opens the box he finds in it a bunch of cheap Made in China video games like the ones you would get at dollar general. Not the advanced game system you were looking for. So instead of taking the chance that some inferior product can be substituted by the open bid contract laws. You have to write the request very specifically yet not name a product name, like Sony, PS3. If you know enough of the products specifics and word those specifics into the contract request there is little chance you will end up with a Xbox 360 when you know exactly what the differences are in the game systems. It has nothing to do with wanting it for research or reverse engineering but it is all about getting a specific product and still not showing favoritism to a specific name brand. Most likely the game systems are going to be used for moral and welfare type programs and the only way to buy something like that and use DOD funds is to make the request as "for research or R&D" Other wise we would have to spend our own money out of pocket and could not send the units to the troops to use for R&R overseas. And if you think this explanation is long and complicated try wading thru the cotracting laws just to buy a stupid hammer. It used to make my head hurt for weeks!
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I saw something on PBS or History Channel or Future Weapons, I forget which (and the specifics), about the military using video gaming systems to train soldiers to remote pilot unmanned recon and tactical equipment. The game systems could be for something similar or for R&R for troops. Maybe they just the processing power. It's really hard to say.
They're training 300 monkeys using the PS 3 to fly the super-secret "AURORA" spy plane. The Air Force has determined that the chimps are smarter than humans, follow orders and don't mind getting paid peanuts. And chimp uniforms cost less than their human counterparts.
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The PS3 has ridiculous potential for all kinds of stuff. Toshiba will implement its Cell Processor technology in future tvs.
The games out today make use of only about 10-15% of the PS3. This is amazing being that the games out today are around 60fps with absolute ease and these are new games. Some of the racing games are already so detailed it is almost impossible to tell its a digital image as oppsed to an actual photo.
The cell technology is beyond anything that is out on the market by a large margin. I know someone who does research and info on advanced weaponry for the military and she was absolutely shocked by the processing power this unit has, especially being for a gaming system. The ps3 was clearly built with the future in mind.
NASA already has seen the potential and uses the PS3 to do calculations, calculations in which were done by former, more expensive supercomputers. Exspensive as in more than 10x the price.
if I had $120,000 to blow (or risk losing that money in next year's budget - ah government efficiency) I'd be tempted to "research" the PS3 as well
You know, you're probably close to being right on here. Someone noticed they still had a crap load of money left in the budget, so they needed a way to spend it or it'd be taken away from them next year: "PS3's for every office!"
They're training 300 monkeys using the PS 3 to fly the super-secret "AURORA" spy plane. The Air Force has determined that the chimps are smarter than humans, follow orders and don't mind getting paid peanuts. And chimp uniforms cost less than their human counterparts.
Well, then this contract is a bit late. That Aurora is probably already being test flown, for many years, well before the PS3
Air Force Buys 300 Playstation 3 Consoles for "Research"
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