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." There you have it, folks. The Air Force has weighed in and has chosen the Sony Playstation 3.

Of course, leave it to the government to put out a full small business proposal simply to pick up a few hundred products. The proposal is targeted to small businesses under 1000 employees - as if there is some way to actually make money off the sale of 300 Playstation 3's which have an industry-wide retail mark-up of around $0.50 each - of you're lucky (we know, we considered stocking it in the store.) The actual proposal calls for:

Item 1: Sony PlayStation 3 Game Console - 40 GB Hard Drive
Qty: 300
Sony Part Number 98006
Specifications:
Processor: CPU: Cell Broadband Engine. GPU: RSX.
Main Memory: 256MB XDR Main RAM. 256MB GDDR3 VRAM.
Hard Drive: 2.5" Serial ATA Drive- 40GB.
I/O Ports: (4) USB 2.0 ports. Slots for Memory Stick/SD/CompactFlash.
Communication: Ethernet (10BaseT/100BaseTX/1000BaseT). IEEE 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi. Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR). Wireless Controller Bluetooth (up to 7).
A/V Output: Screen Size: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p. HDMI: HDMI Out x 1. Analog: AV Multi-Out x 1. Digital Audio: Optical Digital Out x 1. Blu-ray/DVD/CD Drive "read only".
Accessories: 98040: PS3 Wireless Controller. 98042: PS3 Memory Card Adaptor.
Dimensions: 13.0"w x 3.92"h x 11.0"d.

Well, they got the specs right and it almost makes the game system sound fancy. What we really wonder is the nature of this research. I mean, 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. In fact, I'd be tempted to get an entire division to "research it". Maybe chalk it up to morale research or coordination testing.

Hey, maybe the Air Force will start some massive clans and finally kick some of these 12-year-old butts we've been getting spanked by lately in Halo 3.