Sci-fi Weapons, Vehicles and Equipment

There is in fact an example of someone who has survived a hit from a particle beam aka particle accelerator. It was an injury to his head no less. He is by all accounts rather lucky to be alive. Anatoli Bugorski It drilled clean through his head. He was originally not expected to survive but it seems he lucked out.

Great, I liked the idea of built in lasers for range calculation so that works for me.

I wanted to run an idea past you folks. This has to do with an alternate method of possibly launching a rifle grenade. One of the big criticisms of using rifle grenades is you have to fit them over the muzzle of the weapon and their high recoil makes it hard to accurately aim them at longer range.

One of the ideas I have been kicking around is to make a rifle grenade more like a UBGL. An under barrel mounting that uses the "Spigot Mortar Principle" with hydraulic and/or spring recoil buffer to absorb the recoil. It would be similar rifle grenades as we know them but would slide over a mounting under the rifle. Since the launcher not much more then a trigger, a rod, and buffer I was thinking it would be feasible to have the launch rod swing into a storage position so it is out of the way when not in use.

The grenades would likely still have higher recoil compared to a UGBL but would have the rifle grenades longer range with more accuracy thanks to reduced recoil. They would still be bulkier and heavier then UGBL weapons but you could make up for that bulk with a more powerful or potent munition. It would be a more balanced trade off then it is now.

Thoughts?

edited 19th Sep '14 6:46:33 PM by TuefelHundenIV

Could the recoil buffer be placed so that it's 'used' by both the rifle and the launcher?

May I offer an alternative? Instead of trying to "fix" the rifle grenade, how about we completely reinvent it? Instead of blank rounds used to propel the grenade, it uses an electrically fired soft launch system not unlike RPG's. The "rifle grenade" would then fire off the weapon, ignite its own booster and fly off downrange.

Rifles built for such a system would have a different selector switch group. Say you have an M-16 Safe, Semi, Auto group. This system would add one more notch so it would be say Safe, Semi, Auto, Grenade/RG/GL/<insert your favorite descriptor here>/Broop Troop. The adapter would hold the electrics and battery needed for ignition with only a wire running down the receiver to the trigger group to make a circuit.

For the rest of the firearm, the trigger group would use the Grenade setting as an alternate version of Safe, preventing the rifle from firing its regular ammo while in use.

Man:Not really. Since this would be a buffer using simple hydraulics and or a spring it would need to be behind the chamber of the gun itself to help absorb that recoil. This would be more like UGBL comparable in total length to common UBGL like the M203 or M320. You could make the buffer and trigger/firing mechanism into a grip with the firing rod folding over to a side so it doesn't get in the way as much.

Tom: Its taking the Rifle Grenade and making it into a Spigot Mortar instead. And that would be mounted under a rifle in a rather simple package. Instead of a bullet or blank launching the grenade it carries its own propellant kind of in the same way a RPG does. The Rod it would slide over is also a simple spring loaded mechanism that doubles as a firing pin or has one inside and sets off the propellant inside the would be projectile. When fired that rod would reciprocate against the buffer to help reduce recoil.

edited 19th Sep '14 8:38:05 PM by TuefelHundenIV

What shortcoming of UBGL's are you guys trying to solve?

Would it be scientifically correct for a plasma weapon to behave like a flamethrower? That is, instead of a stereotypically green plasma bolt, it fires a continuous blue-white blast that blooms and dissipates with distance, kinda like a really REALLY big plasma torch.

demarquis: Not solving the UBGL problem but the Rifle Grenade problem. Before the advent of dedicated grenade launchers and disposable rocket launchers the Rifle Grenade did both but not as well as either one does on its own. It is partly for flavor and partly an interesting idea in itself give some forces a bit of a different feel with a weapon that would not be so badly handicapped.

Rifle grenades right now have shorter effective ranges then a dedicated UBGL and are comparatively less accurate over those ranges. Their ammo is also heavier and when fired they tend to have notably higher recoil when used at their max effective ranges. Now the catch is Rifle Grenades have larger payloads, can have a wider variety of projectile head sizes, and their absolute max range can be longer. But the biggest hurdle for their effective range and accuracy is how hard they recoil. The other big issue is that in order to fire a rifle grenade you are effectively disabling the rifle in order to fire it. Even with a bullet trap or shoot through type grenades it limits what can be done with them as shooting the gun shoots the grenade. Then there are the ones that require the use of a special blank to fire.

The idea is to keep as many advantages as possible and then mitigate their worst pitfalls. One of the best candidates is a spigot mortar like system with an attached recoil buffer. This moves the grenade from the muzzle to a dedicated launcher and the buffer absorbs the recoil making it easier to aim the grenade with greater accuracy over longer ranges. Since one of the basic advantages of a spigot mortar is they can have variable sized heads and payloads it keeps two of the key benefits of a rifle grenade. The larger payloads and more variable head shape. But being able to fire it at longer ranges with more accuracy then previously without disabling the rifles primary ability to shoot bullets is a huge plus as well. It would still be physically larger and heavier then grenades and still have comparatively higher recoil. It would be a more balanced choice then the original Rifle Grenade though technically it would no longer be a rifle grenade but a type of spigot mortar instead. Unlike a rifle grenade Spigot Mortars actually carry their propelling charge as part of the projectile body.

If you do a search for rifle grenades avoid G2mil or Combat Reform both are nutter sites but have a tendency to pop up in searches related to them.

Amitak: I have heard that somewhere before. It is certainly an interesting idea but the heat bloom and backwash from hitting something would endanger the shooter as well as the target. If your going to be spraying plasma you don't want it anywhere near you when it hits and you want it around you for as short a time as possible when shooting. The best I have seen is plasma weapons for WH 40k they are not very long ranged but produce nasty effects on target. Then there are the Meltas which are more like what you are talking about and are a hazard to use but potent.

edited 20th Sep '14 8:30:38 AM by TuefelHundenIV

IIRC, "plasma" refers to a type of gas, not a beam. My impression is that it doesnt hold itself together long enough to reach a target.

Demarquis; Sort of. It is the fourth state of matter. Liquid, Solid, Gas, and Plasma. It is gas that has been heavily energized changing its properties. To make it even more complex there are several varieties of it from differing sources with a variety of additional properties to boot. See here However it would be rather difficult to weaponize it.

edited 20th Sep '14 10:22:42 AM by TuefelHundenIV

You might be able to form a defensive barrier out of plasma, with difficulty. Micro meteors and other debris would be vaporized at sufficient densities and it's optical properties (which tend to vary depending on the exact state of the plasma) could refract laser fire.

However, I wouldn't recommend this unless you've got enough skill with magnetic to deflect iron slugs with magnetism alone and enough power to generate a metric ton of plasma on command.

Speaking of Plasma Barrier that reminded me of a project to do something like that using a laser system. The PASSPlasma Acoustic Shield System

There's probably a way around that...◊

As for the launcher; if it was placed farther downwards from the rifle muzzle, it would increase the size of projectile that you can load onto it without blocking the muzzle.

Wikipedia says a spigot mortar can be made very quiet;

An advantage of UBGL is being able to launch a grenade immediately. But a large grenade at the front could make the gun unwieldy; So with this launcher, you could keep a small grenade there to be instantly available, and when you need to, replace it with something larger to launch(while still keeping a working rifle in your hands), which also saves you the weight of carrying a dedicated launcher with its own buttstock and such?

I've been looking into atmospheric diving suits to see how a rigid, fully enclosed suit of powered armor might be built. Unfortunately, this video is pretty much the best demonstration of their flexibility that I've found... Movement starts after about a minute.

The parts of them that are exposed to the environment seem to be entirely made of rigid plates. Bullets are a very different threat than atmospheric pressure, but blast waves don't seem to be. Flanker had some concern about inward curves in armor suits guiding bullets into the neck and such instead of deflecting them away; I think the shape of the limbs can be more streamlined than this. And since the helmet is just a rigid continuation of the torso section, there is no reason for inward curves on the front and back of the "neck". Not sure how much can be done with the ones on the sides, though.

Also relevant is NASA's experimental AX-5 hard-shell space suit◊. Its mobility rating is 95%, meaning that while wearing it you can take 95% of the positions that one is normally capable of.

So far I'm basing the heavier, bulkier suits on these, and the lighter ones on medieval plate armor, especially a very well-covering suit made for Henry VIII, with overlapping strips of metal covering the insides of joints;

http://www.cosmonline.co.uk/blog/2011/05/10/how-henry-viii-helped-put-man-moon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFluOX3znZw (shows the armpit covering)

edited 20th Sep '14 1:38:10 PM by ManInGray

Is there anything to be gained by making the GL the primary weapon, and slinging a small carbine under that for self-defense?

De Marquis: Not really. Namely you could simply get more rounds out of the sub weapon which would over shadow the GL's role as a primary. The closest I can think of is the failed OICW and the South Korean Rip Off which had a over gun computerized GL. They could in theory be broken into separate parts and used separate parts. Which we can do with the M320 now. They can even store it in a holster.

Now at one point their was a position for a dedicated grenadier running around with nothing but a M79 primary weapon and maybe a side arm if they were lucky a M16 as well. The problem was they were carrying two rifle type weapons and a bunch of grenades. So the UBGL was the next step. A light weight detachable stock could be used should you just need the launcher for a single shot or you need mount something else under the barrel but still need the launcher.

Man In Gray: Not necessarily that it can fire immediately but that you can still use your primary weapon and it has low recoil. But you are correct in that the ability carry it loaded until you need to shoot is there but is not usually done for safety reasons. It is really easy to load and even if you don't have to shoot immediately you can easily keep it loaded for a while until your ready to take the shot.

As for your armor. You looking for something completely sealed or something with effective protection? The Plate Armor style of plates is a good direction to head. Picture a type of plate armor carried over a powered exoskeleton. Also look up something called duplex armor and look up army NIJ IV Armor. The Medieval plate armor got shape right for the chest pieces. As for next protection there were several variety of armored gorgets that would deflect or stop a hit in the neck even on modern body armor. Some would cover up half the face. Some even were par tof the chest piece or helmet or individual parts.

Other then a strong material shaping of the armor would be important as well. Look for those chest pieces with a ridge or even scalar type armor.

I remember reading about some sort of undershirt that was capable of monitoring its wearer's body temperature and heart rate among other things in an old copy of National Geographic.

How practical would such a garment be in military use? Would there be any use whatsoever for any physical data said garment would gather?

I had imagined such a device linking to a Kill Sat so if one of your squads of Doom Troops got TPK'd you could drop a nuke on the area to show the Rebel Scum you Ain't Fucking Around.

More like a medic could quickly use it to gather useful info, it could be hooked up to in suit life support systems and 'auto-docs/auto-pharmacy". It could indicate a trooper has been killed. The benefits of temperature regulation are self evident when hooked up to a suit cooling unit. Even body armor today is notably hot and uncomfortable to wear. So an automated cooling unit would be nice.

edited 21st Sep '14 3:15:10 AM by TuefelHundenIV

For more mundane uses, hook it up to the trooper during his regularly scheduled physical fitness test, to gather various metrics to go with his physical performance (maybe he passed all the required performance specs, but you also want to know how his heart and lungs are doing during all that, or look for other issues)

Dozens of works have speculated on the possibly of combining this sort of thing with a computer-controlled IV or injector system that would dispense drugs to keep a soldier alive and possibly even alert when injured. The US Army has been examining this concept for their future infantry gear since at least the mid-'90s, and ironically many smartphones already have peripherals to do half of the equation and have the processing power to manage the other half.

In a real sense, this wouldn't even be science fiction; we could arguably do it now if we were willing to spend then money.

The big thing is providing data before, during and after the medic arrives. From traumatic brain injury to a "through and through" (gun shot that enters and leaves the body), data is life.

You could also tie that system to an automated medical system in a battlesuit. That data would determine what if any treatment the suit should provide. Say for example you get a "through and through" to the left oblique just below the skin. With that kind of wound the suit would do little more than administer some painkillers like morphine. That would keep the trooper alive and alert long enough to get the fuck out of the fight and back to the medivac or alive and alert long enough to finish the fight in question if it's about finished.

You could also add things like automatic torquetes, blood plasma injectors, and heaters.

And chillers. I can't tell you how many times simple ice has quickly cured the hurt on sore or overextended muscles. (Especially on muscle pulls and things like rolled ankles.)