Lightning Gun Technology Approaches Weaponisation

[Outlander Systems]

Project Mjollnir.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/26/ionatron_still_going/

[TOrrock]

Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

I want one.

[decodeddiesel]

Holy Crap the "Phased-Plasma Rifle in the 40 Watt Range" is here! :eek:

[KingsideRook]

Looks neat, very cool application. It strikes me to be much like lasers though - ideal for specialized applications, but otherwise a pretty inefficient way to throw energy at something.

I'm all for throwing energy at things in big, flashy fashions, of course, but usually kinetic energy from solid projectiles work with less energy expenditure.

[loupav]

Makes me wanna play DOOM II.

:D

[Marcus L.]

Pretty much every energy based weapon system of the 20th and now 21st century has had significant problems during testing. Even when they do get up and running, the benefits of them don't ever equal the cost of R&D or the expense of fielding them over conventional equipment. It's also easy to disperse or deflect a laser or electrical charge. It's really hard to beat the overall capabilities of projectile based weapon systems whether they be missile or propelled.

Gauss gun or rail gun technology is still the most promising in my opinion. Since it uses magnetic fields to chain excelerate a projectile it has no recoil, its firing mechanism is not effected by atmosphere, and at the velocities it fires at it is incredibly difficult to stop or deflect its projectile.

[Vash1023]

i agree with the rail gun statement,
but i think lasers in general are also efficient in the long run due to type of round being fired.

sooner or later we will run out of brass,copper,aluminum and lead.
sun will keep putting out elec for another billion or so years.

so in the long run wont lasers or plasma weapons be much more practical??????:D

say having to change a powercell/capacitor instead of a mag?

u can recharge the powercell (especially if solar cells become more efficient)
but cant reload a mag if your out of bullets

[Marcus L.]

i agree with the rail gun statement,
but i think lasers in general are also efficient in the long run due to type of round being fired.

sooner or later we will run out of brass,copper,aluminum and lead.
sun will keep putting out elec for another billion or so years.

so in the long run wont lasers or plasma weapons be much more practical??????:D

say having to change a powercell/capacitor instead of a mag?

u can recharge the powercell (especially if solar cells become more efficient)
but cant reload a mag if your out of bullets

There will always be plenty of metals. Iron is the most abundant metal in the universe, and can be found on the moon, Mars, asteroids, comets, and just about any other spacial body. A rail gun utilizes a magnetic projectile(or a conductor of magnetic fields), so iron is a good material which does not make contact with barrel/rail to wear it down. A Gauss gun is technically more advanced because it does not require that the projectile to be a good conductor of magnetic fields. So, you can literlly load it up with a rock and launch it like a meteor at high speeds. Plus, you just can't beat the kinetic energy and momentum benefits of a heavy projectile flying at over 10,000fps. Lasers will not cut through certain synthetic materials(and they are easily deflected), electrical charges can be diverted around the target, and plasma only uses heat as its damaging mechanism which can also be deflected with materials with high melting points.