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USAF develops ‘dazzling’ laser weapon; Edit: More directed energy fun!
Topic Started: Dec 7 2005, 10:18 PM (742 Views)
Retrogamer!
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IT'S HERESY
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Actually, from an article in New Scientist Magazine (Just DONT ask...) it was talking of the technology put into railguns.


Currently...we can make them. Seriously! We have all we need...EXCEPT...for the one problem encountered by all prototypes and working models....the lack of a way to make the energy needed small enough that it comes below "fucking MAHOOSIVE."

Currently they are being tested in Scotland by US and UK scientists nearby to a place called Brighouse Bay, which...scarily...it only 2 hours from my house.

Its not a hidden military secret they are being tested (its the worlds leading 'known' location for them) because...simply...there is no practical way to get em working these days.


East, you mention the recoil...but as I heard they wuld have zero recoil because they don't 'fire' the slug persay...but accelerate it via magnetics. We both thinking of differant methods here?
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Hercule Pyro
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You've done some terrible things, Mister Harry
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No, since it fires the slug so fast, it generates a sonic boom. Which sank the boat.
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Retrogamer!
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IT'S HERESY
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Eastwood,Dec 14 2005
05:56 PM
No, since it fires the slug so fast, it generates a sonic boom. Which sank the boat.

Ah..right I see now! Ta.
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Conker the Great
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A sonic boom? I don't think that'd sink a boat. Unless it was like a 4 person PT Boat. Most rifles fire bullets well over the speed of sound, and I imagine that battle ship cannons would do even more.
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Icefox
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Haven't been here for awhile, but I can always count on the EN forums to have something interesting when I do get around to checking them. Woo!

Well, East did warn that it was an urban legend. So really, I wouldn't doubt if it were hosh posh.

And as to lasers - someone put it correctly when they mentioned that it is no doubt so large because it is a new tech. In fact, laser technology that actually has any degree of damage potential is still rather large, and I'd imagine designing such a device that could even simply BLIND a person would still require it to be good-sized. So I would seriously doubt it is large out of anything other reason than that our current level of technology keeps us from making it smaller.

AND really, PHASeR? Siiigh... sounds like the name my father would give projects if he could. He's ONE of those scientists you folks are talking about. *smirk* He's very intelligent, but I'm afraid his hands are often tied by the stupidity of not just THIS administration, but American government and military command in general as well. Though his field is aerospace.

And back to railguns, simply so I can prove how incompetant I am at forming an organized writing... I've always liked the concept. But practically speaking... yeah, they still need work. Ahh, it'll be quite lovely if we ever get them working though. I suspect we will, just got to give it time.
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Conker the Great
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Aerospace for the government? Thats one job I'd love, but if I can't get into that field there's always computers... I'm hoping that some day I'll be able to work with (or even invent) a hydrogen powered airplane that gets its fuel from the air it flies through. An infinite range plane. I'm sure the USAF would be all over that.
That is unless that turns out to be impossible.

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Captain Wonderful
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Enjoy piracy responsibly
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Retrogamer!,Dec 14 2005
05:35 PM
East, you mention the recoil...but as I heard they wuld have zero recoil because they don't 'fire' the slug persay...but accelerate it via magnetics. We both thinking of differant methods here?

for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
when a magnetic system moves something with a force, the same force is exerted on the system doing the moving.
"no recoil" sounds like bull-nonsense to me.
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alaskawolf
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Icefox,Dec 14 2005
08:43 PM
Haven't been here for awhile, but I can always count on the EN forums to have something interesting when I do get around to checking them. Woo!

Well, East did warn that it was an urban legend. So really, I wouldn't doubt if it were hosh posh.

And as to lasers - someone put it correctly when they mentioned that it is no doubt so large because it is a new tech. In fact, laser technology that actually has any degree of damage potential is still rather large, and I'd imagine designing such a device that could even simply BLIND a person would still require it to be good-sized. So I would seriously doubt it is large out of anything other reason than that our current level of technology keeps us from making it smaller.

i hobby in Lasers a little and a simple green high power laser pointer could flash blind a person quickly.

http://www.wickedlasers.com/videos.php
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Conker the Great
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I suppose the reason why its so large is that it concentrates on not blinding someone permenantly. That would be why "someone put it correctly when they mentioned that it is no doubt so large because it is a new tech."
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red demon
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A lazergun? Cool.

But I won't personally belive the future is here until they invent hover boards.
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Captain Wonderful
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I hope the future comes soon.
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Conker the Great
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Rather than post a new topic, I edited the first post, since it is sort of the same subject.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10805240/?GT1=7538

"Beam weapons almost ready for battle"
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Scythe
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That articles seems old to me 'directed energy weapons' have been around for a while, anyone remember the humvee mounted with a microwave induce heatstroke so you can have a riot collapse within minutes? The 'e-bomb' sounds familiar to a system I heard being trialled involving mounting a directed energy weapon on a UCAV and sending it over your enemies communication centres, designed to fry the lot.

At the rate this miniturisation is going I wonder if instead of safe semi and auto, we get off, stun and hyperdeath in the future :rolleyes:
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madfool2
Archon of the Kabal of the Blackend moon
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About rail guns, couldn't you just mount them on tanks instead of making them an infantry weapon, seeing as squad leaders might say F**k off im not going to be blown up thanks to that piece of crap. Well what a productive first post.....sorry
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Scythe
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Its already been said upthread that to power a rail gun the amount of energy required is "MAHOOSIVE". Its much more practical right now to stick to 120mm tank guns ;)

Although if we ever develop the technolgy to power them it would be among the first points of application, it would be very impractical to use railguns at infantry level...and don't start quoting me 'Eraser'. :P
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madfool2
Archon of the Kabal of the Blackend moon
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Sorry i didn't read the post fully, i already seen pictures of this gun and well.....can you say lasguns?
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Psycho_Limey
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Railguns have MASSIVE recoil, allow me to explain (i looked up the facts!)
Quote:
 
the recoil of a hand-held weapon is not solely dependent on the momentum of the projectile. The force (mass * acceleration) of the recoil is often a larger factor than the momentum. For instance, commercially-loaded .357 magnum (9 x 33 mm R) ammunition which uses 125 grain (8.1 gram) bullets at 1450 ft/s (442 m/s) is almost universally regarded as having more unpleasant recoil than ammunition with 158 grain (10.2 gram) bullets at 1235 ft/s (376 m/s). Despite the higher momentum of the latter load, the higher velocity of the former means that the bullet (and therefore the gun) accelerates faster, making the recoil more forceful. A railgun which fires a very light projectile at very high speeds would inevitably have an extremely high recoil force, though the impulse could be kept relatively low.
Stolen from wikipedia.
The urban legend ragarding railgun sinking the boat is just that, an urban legend.
Quote:
 
At the University of Texas at Austin Center for Electromechanics, military railguns capable of delivering tungsten armor piercing bullets with kinetic energies of nine million joules have been developed [1]. Nine million joules is enough energy to deliver 2 kg of projectile at 3 km/s - at that velocity a tungsten or other dense metal rod could penetrate a tank.

That's one of the best railguns out there.
Conventional naval cannons don't really get above 2 km/s however they fire about 10 of those very rapidly.... i highly doubt 1 railgun has more recoil than that many cannons firing at pretty much the same time.

Now for somebody who is a physicist to come and rape me.
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Razzie
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*pounces on Psycho*

:D

I am of the impression that railgun technology leaves no recoil, as the projectile is fired using a Gauss electromagnetic field. Or am I confusing my TA sc-fi witrh my A-level science fact?
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Conker the Great
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This is how I roll.
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I think what we need is a verification of what exactly the difference between recoil and impulse is.
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