From: eripe.dk@gmail.com   
      
   On Monday, February 27, 2017 at 7:14:47 AM UTC+7, nu...@bid.nes wrote:   
   > On Friday, February 24, 2017 at 8:38:58 PM UTC-8, eripe wrote:   
   > > On Saturday, February 18, 2017 at 5:26:35 PM UTC+7, MrAnderson wrote:   
   > > > So here comes the next step in designing space marines army, the personal   
   > > > weapons.   
   > > > What do you think, what kind would be most versatile and reliable for   
   use on   
   > > > many diferrent planets, spacecrafts with and without gravity and even in   
   > > > emergency situations in 0g on vacuum? Caseless or normal rounds?   
   > > > PS I am mostly thinking about kinetic weapons using chemical propellant   
   to   
   > > >fire, but if you think lasers, railguns etc would be good, write about   
   them:D   
   > >    
   > > I have to say laser.   
   >    
   > (long list of benefits snipped)   
   >    
   >   Yep, all that's possible but is it *feasible*?   
   >    
   >   Remember this is a *combat* tool intended to be used in a very harsh   
   environment and will be subjected to rough handling on a routine basis.   
   >    
   >   Also, the "lowest bidder" effect applies.   
   >    
   >   There's an old story of an Army Sergeant told to take a new model of rifle   
   out for testing. First thing he does after arriving at the range is to drop   
   one of the rifles off the back of the truck onto the ground. The   
   manufacturer's rep is horrified    
   but the Sergeant says "If it can't handle that it'll never handle actual   
   combat."   
   >    
   >   Then there's the original M-16. The Army specified it had to be   
   lightweight among other things, and the manufacturer met the specs exactly   
   *while making the lowest bid* but the thing was flimsy as hell and liked to   
   jam, getting soldiers killed after    
   an abbreviated approval testing process. A few design and manufacturing tweaks   
   and it became very reliable though more expensive, but it's a fairly simple   
   mechanical thing with no intrinsic electronics.   
   >    
   >   How robust can a do-it-all laser rifle be?   
   >    
   >   Since we're in a SF group I'll mention the bit in an episode of DS9 where   
   Major Kira compares the Federation type III phaser rifle with its Cardassian   
   counterpart. The former has more settings and is more versatile while the   
   simpler Cardassian model    
   is lighter and far more robust, with fewer things that can go fatally wrong or   
   confuse the user in combat.   
   >    
   > > For electricity you have a capacitor charging from a built-in battery, with   
   > > clip-on battery possible with either clips or a cable from the backpack/car   
   > >/house/solar cells/thermoelectric chip (using heat from a fire or nuclear),   
   or   
   > > a mini Z-pinch, firing whenever the capacitor is empty, (reload time = 0,1   
   > > sec).   
   >    
   >   High-energy-density batteries are DANGEROUS. Example, exploding phones and   
   burning cars. Armoring them makes the weapon heavier.   
   >    
   >   And a cable tethering the weapon to the soldier? No frickin' way. That's   
   just asking to snare it on something and get the user killed.   
   >    
   >   That's why I asked about explicit tech level. The weapon should be   
   self-contained and not be a hazard to the user in any way.   
   >    
   > > If you willing to have the mirror on a computer controlled gimball you can   
   > > have the HUD bracket all movement/IR sources, mark the target by looking at   
   > > it and hit every time. (just dont get hacked)   
   >    
   >   If we could get past the other issues I mention I'd go with a multiple   
   emitter semiconductor laser setup, say a thousand or so emitters on a single   
   chip, each capable of one watt per pulse, and phase them under computer   
   control as you say to slew the    
   beam a few degrees in milliseconds without moving parts the same way   
   phased-array radar works.   
   >    
   >   FELs are ideal for microwave-to-X-ray wideband use but not terribly   
   efficient, and AFAIK hard to pulse reliably, over more than a narrow bandwidth.   
   >    
   >   Solid-state lasers are obviously single-wavelength devices but can be   
   frequency-shifted or multiplied- you just put one or another crystal of   
   something containing ammonium chloride doped with various elements into the   
   beam path. Yes, mechanical bits,    
   but no less robust that the cylinder in a revolver, but contained to be   
   dirt/jam proof etc. You can start with deep IR and go up to UV without losing   
   more than a few percent of efficiency.   
   >    
   >   Speaking of hacking, all post-TOS Federation phasers included a "smart"   
   interlock that communicated with starship computers limiting their output   
   power for shipboard use (repelling boarders and such) though that could be   
   bypassed, and could remotely    
   disable them entirely if an unauthorized person got their hands on them. I've   
   always wondered why the Romulans frinst never tried to hack them in combat.   
   Seems like something the sneaky bastards would pull.   
   >    
   >    
   >   Mark L. Fergerson   
      
      
   I think all these issues will be fixed, and you will end up with a solid piece   
   of laser hardware and the soldiers will scoff at ye olde bullet tosser.   
      
   The status now is the same as when blunderbuss first came out and was inferior   
   to bow and arrow.    
   As technology developes this will change, and it will be a lot faster than the   
   400 years it took guns to completely replace bow and arrow.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)