"Dean Ing - Firefight Y2K" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ing Dean)

We studied too many devices to detail here: the turbine-driven "compulsator" which would power
futuristic rail guns; devices that would literally burn battlefield trash (cut powder charges would make
high-energy fuel!) to generate power; and fuel cells. We even studied a cold-gas launch system, in which
compressed gas could mix with a small initial propellant charge. The result might haveno IR emission, no
flash, little dust signature and no net recoil. The projectile would contain a bazooka-like second stage,
firing after the projectile was well on its way to the target. This launch system wouldn't be as compact as
a big powder charge, but it might not give away the launcher position.



COLDGAS LAUNCHER, 40mm RECOILLESS, AUTOMATIC FIRE.

(Note ambidextrous sights set for lefthand user.)



The Effects people focused on what small weapons can do to an enemy. A rifle-fired projectile carrying
a bundle of tungsten wire can penetrate light armor to increase the lethality of a combat rifle round. The
strobed vertigo munition, on the other hand, might not kill anyone. It wouldn't have to; it would emit a
series of dazzling flashes pulsed at a frequency that is known to create temporary chaos in the human
nervous system. We're talking about flashes of light so intense that, with eyes closed and hands across his
face, the enemy wouldclearly see the bones of his fingers. Vertigo was our weasel-word for something
like a grand mal seizure, and this weapon's effects might recur spontaneously in a victim. It's obvious that
we would need to protect our own troops from its effects. TAKE NOTE.

The ramjet round is a simpler matter. A ramjet is a tube that gulps air and burns fuel like a blowtorch,
exhausting it as other jet engines do. It has no moving parts, but it must be moving nearly as fast as a .45
slug before it develops much thrust. Its shape is very important. Now, instead of spraying kerosene into
that tube, we can line part of the tube with solid fuel. The liner fuel needs very little oxidizer because air
provides oxygen. Some sort of tiny sabot will probably be needed to force the ramjet tube down the
rifled barrel. We might build ramjets of, say, .35 caliber or less. Its sabot would fall away as the round
left the muzzle, allowing the tube to swallow air, burning the liner fuel which might be ignited by the air
itself. The ramjet round boasts two advantages: it lets us use oxygen from the air instead of carrying all of
it in the propellant; and it gives a flatter trajectory, maintaining high velocity to the target.

The lump gun would carry its own processor, slicing metal trash into needles to be fired. Turbine
powered, it could fire clouds of flechettes by pressurized gas. This is a way to become almost
independent of your fuel and ammo supplies!

Fire coordination sounds simple, but it will require that several dispersed weapons be coordinated to
converge on a given target. TAKE NOTE. For this, we may have to develop very reliable
burst-transmissions by laser or microwave during a firefight.



RAMJET ROUND, 8mm