What are your future weapon ideas?

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Man In Black Pulses & Beams baby 5/13/2007 7:15:03 PM

How about magnetic constricted plasma pulses with variable geometry magnetic constriction technology!

Or maybe a kinetic powered laser. A laser for your standard soldier. Every step the soldier makes powers the lasers backpack batteries.

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Treadgar 5/16/2007 4:55:26 PM

You'd have to do a lot of steppin' for a man portable laser!

Treadgar

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Man In Black Your right dude. 5/28/2007 7:36:15 PM

Yeah, the soldiers would have to do a lot of walking but they typically do that already. And the laser would mostly be powered by the battery.

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andyf 5/31/2007 4:12:17 PM

how about a laser pumped by a minature homopolar generator powered by explosive power generator cartridges?

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Treadgar 6/1/2007 11:27:01 AM

It’s true that infantry do a lot of walking. But they don’t do it with 500 pound plus generators on their backs. I’m not saying hand held lasers are impossible. For a good discussion of this see Atomic Rockets again. There is some good detail there. The author suggests they might come to look like the old video cameras rather than conventional pistols.

I think we might see something done with microwaves or micrometer waves. In the TV show Future Weapons they showed this system that beamed energy into a persons body that made them feel hot. The response is always to leave really quickly. It’s none lethal, but I’m sure you can pump up the power and get lethal effects.

The explosive shell as energy generator might be a good idea.

Talk about none lethal weapons, that would be an interesting alternative to the common blaster. Weapons like this might be a powerful future trend. Maybe war might come to be more like a paint ball game?

Treadgar

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andyf 6/3/2007 2:44:55 PM

non lethal war is unlikely I think, the only way to make sure the enemy isnt going to get up again is to kill him.

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andyf 6/3/2007 2:46:06 PM

probably also I think mass drivers rather than lasers. the equations work out much better for damage

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flamingknives 6/3/2007 4:14:05 PM

Yimmy:

Did they switch from their two-of-each loadout?

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flamingknives 6/3/2007 4:19:36 PM

OK, I got confused.

My reply in this thread was to be:

Lasers, for an infantry role and if feasible, would be useful for minimising aiming errors (no drop, wind effects or appreciable time-of-flight).

If used in space, the chances of hitting would be much greater (faster time-of flight)

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Jeff_F_F 6/4/2007 5:57:43 PM

Actually, as the debate about stopping power shows, killing people with any weapon that inflicts trauma is increadibly inefficient. Of those that go down from traumatic attacks in most cases there is no physiological reason for them to actually go down, it appears to be either some kind of psychological shock or a complex combinations of physical, neurological, and psychological factors that we don't understand, and these effects are highly variable from person to person or from wound to wound.

The only guaranteed way to stop someone instantly is to directly attack the central nervous system. With current technology this requires sufficiently precise targeting to hit the brain or spine which is in itself extremely hard to reliably guarantee. Even many head shots fail to hit the brain.

Less than lethal weapon researchers are looking for ways to directly attack the central nervous system in non-traumatic ways. The irony is that if such a means can be found, it is entirely possible that less than lethal weapons could be MORE effective at instantly incapacitating their opponents than current lethal weapon technologies.

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