10 Sci-Fi Weapons That Actually Exist

[The Straight Story]

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/01/sci-fi-weapons/



After learning about an experimental weapon that can make people feel seasick, Limor Fried and Phil Torrone decided to build their own. They did it for less than $250, and wrote step-by-step instructions so that anyone can make one at home.

It can create a nauseating lightshow with 36 pulsating LEDs.

Their design has a bonus feature. You can set it to disco mode. Instead of making you sick, the weapon will add life to your next party.

http://www.ladyada.net/make/bedazzler/index.html




The XM-25 grenade launcher is equipped with a laser rangefinder and on-board computer. It packs a magazine of four 25mm projectiles, and programs them to detonate as they pass by their targets. That feature will allow soldiers to strike enemies who are taking cover. By 2012, the Army hopes to arm every infantry squad and Special Forces unit with at least one of the big guns.

In August, a lucky soldier got to pull the trigger, and fire off a HEAB, or High Explosive Air Burst, round at the Aberdeen Testing Ground in Maryland. Those projectiles pack quite a punch. They are purportedly 300 percent more effective than normal ammo, and will be able to strike targets as far as 700 meters (2,300 feet) away.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/01/sci-fi-weapons/

[NNN0LHI]

1. Kick because I want to read this one later

Thanks for posting it The Straight Story.

And Happy New Year.

Don

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. What no Gauss made the list?

We science fiction writers have had a hard time over the last few years.

Other things that already exists.

That bug on the wall, might not really be biological.

We've been playing wiht Gauss and lasers have been mounted on aircraft for a while. Just not pretty colors, ok.

Oh and SWORDS did turn on it's handlers in '04. Was it bad code or ... something else? Problem is as a plot that is old hat by now.

And of course drones have taken not just to the air...

[NashVegas]

3. "Psychopath" Is the Word That Comes to Mind, to Describe Their Inventors

And their collaborators.

[baldguy]

6. Another is "Defense Contractors".

Your tax dollars at work.

[Echo In Light]

8. 6 of 1, a half dozen of the other

[OnlinePoker]

11. Not necessarily

I've had experience with the sound device which was combined with a light device while on anti-piracy ops. The pirates refused to stop despite numerous warning shots in front of their boat. One shot with the device and they immediately stopped their motors and agreed to be boarded. It is a device that, had we not had it, might have required lethal force to be used instead. To me, it is a much more humane method of control in zones where full fledged combat isn't taking place.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

22. So you think the guy who made the non-lethal sea sick weapon is a psycho?

[NashVegas]

23. Yeah

It's a neat trick, the way a tyrannical operation works in ways to insure opponents have no means to defend themselves or otherwise get a shot in.

Really there's not much difference between someone using an object like that to defeat an opponent and a dentist who molests his clients while they're high on gas.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

24. I guess you'd rather them use CS gas, batons and rubber bullets.

[NewJeffCT]

4. Thanks for the find

kicking now so I can find later.

[MicaelS]

5. They've been working on the XM-25 since 2005

As part of the XM-29 OICW since the 1990s. Then by itself since '05. Not that I don't think it would a be a vast improvement over the other grenade launchers out there, but I'll believe it when I see it fielded.

[jmowreader]

20. It may be a setback compared to the others

This is a 25mm grenade launcher; the M203 and Mk.19 are 40mm weapons. A 40mm projectile is larger than a 25mm one, and these 25mm rounds have proximity fuzes that take up room in the projectile body.

[Mugu]

7. Brings to mind the old saying about Mechanical engineers make weapons

while Civil engineers make targets.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

12. Another version...

Fighter pilots make movies, attack pilots make history

[shadowknows69]

9. Yay humanity. Consistently finding new ways to kill each other.

But electric cars? Na, can't have those yet.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. Yet, we tell ourselves that we are the epitome of evolution.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Soylent Brice]

13. money to kill. no money to heal.

reluctant K&R

:(

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. I'm still waiting to see Mobile Infantry Armor - as described by Heinlein

in Starship Troopers (and completely ignored in the ST movies, but shown to good effect in Avatar).

[Xithras]

17. The problem with infantry armor is POWER.

There have been numerous powered suits built for various purposes over the years, and the DoD has already experimented with arming them for combat. They are invariably passed over for one simple reason; infantry must maintain the ability to operate without supply lines for extended periods of time. Infantry armor must be fueled, necessitating solid supply lines to keep them combat ready. The two concepts don't merge well.

I've seen it mentioned, over the past few years, that the DoD is keeping an eye on some of the battery innovations being developed for hybrids and electric cars, because they may also enable them to finally make some of these weapon concepts viable. Better batteries for your Prius may one day enable Armored Infantry units to walk into combat with heavy weapons and missile launchers slung over their shoulders.

[proteus_lives]

18. That's with a lot of tech.

A power source.

Once we figure out that out, then a world of doors opens up.

[JCMach1]

15. Talk about evening the battle field, lasers like this could some day

cost effectively eliminate air superiority.

[rucky]

16. Disco Fever is REAL n/t

[lunatica]

19. Cockroaches will be victorious in the end

[niyad]

21. k and r--bookmarked for later