The concept: To manufacture a low cost set of tank handle "cadillacs" to take advantage of a civilian and military market void in conjuction with the release of Steel Beasts II.

The Army currently utilizes technology to decrease training costs for its armor crewmembers. Unfortunately the two prevailing technologies, the Conduct of Fire Trainer (COFT) and the Abrams Full Crew Interactive Skills Trainer (AFIST) are still prohibitive due to their cost, size and complexity. For FY2002 the DoD procured $8.3 million for AFIST purchases, much to Sen. John McCain's dismay.

Recently militaries across the world have begun to use a new tool for training. The tool runs on a standard, low cost personal computer and has been adopted by the German Bundeswehr, the Danish army, and most recently the United State Military Acadamy at West Point. What is most amazing about this tool is that it is an off-the-shelf combat simulation by the name of Steel Beasts. The eSim Games website descibes Steel Beasts:

"Steel Beasts is a highly accurate simulator of the US M1A1 and German Leopard 2A4 tanks that is designed to let players create and play scenarios of modern armored warfare on their PCs. Steel Beasts can be played on many different levels: from gunner in a single tank to company commander. Any mission can also be played over a network (e.g., the Internet) with any combination of cooperative and competitive style of play, including multiple players in a single tank. Powerful and easy-to-use scenario and map editors allow players to create virtually any mission they can dream up."

"One of our customers uses the original spare parts for $18,000.- per piece. It makes sense for them since they already owned the parts. Other armies are looking for a cheap and transportable gunnery training simulation for their peace keeping mission contingents; for these, a PC based simulation is ideal, and Steel Beasts is the only serious contender in this market niche."