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Qué será será.

I work with a military agency that shall not be named, that is using equipment more than 10 years old that met the standards of the time. They will not "upgrade" to current commercial equipment.

We had an ATM network breakdown in this area several years ago. I would not call it the end of civilization as we know it, but it was close. One becomes accustomed to swiping that card. I was ready to bring out the gold coins and figure out how to make change.

- Jim

rzym20 wrote:Respectfully, that's only partially true. I used to do RadHard work at Motorola Semiconductor. Radiation-hardened electronics are perfectly capable of surviving an EMP attack. Military communications grids were designed with this in mind. As for the rest of society, yeah they'd be having a bad day.

I would hope that the military is prepared for an EMP event.

But imagine what happens when no civilian has e-mail, and ATM, credit-card, phone, and cable networks go down. Can you say "screeching halt"?

The other stuff being discussed on this page is beyond my knowledge or expertise.

- Jim

One EMP blast, and modern society is toast.

BTW, a certain large, Communist country in Asia demonstrated its ability to shoot down missiles yesterday.

Here I go with the thread drift again.

- Jim

MechAg94 wrote:Imagine a pistol or rifle with a compact built in aiming system that accounts for distance and all sorts of other factors.

Some kind of electronic ranging system would be useful with rifles, though I have to think the U.S. military has already spent millions on research that didn't work out.

At practical handgun distances, the sighting systems that we have are more than adequate. I know some people shoot handguns 100 yards or more, but that is a specialized hobby.

- Jim

Purplehood wrote:Of course everything is imaginary! If we didn't have any imagination we wouldn't bother inventing stuff in the first place!

Maybe I should have written fantastic.

We can imagine things that do not currently exist; but to invent them, we must figure out a way to produce them in accordance with the laws of nature.

People had the dream of flying for all of recorded history, but they imagined impractical means like strapping wings to their arms or Leonardo da Vinci's helical helicopter. Powered flight didn't happen until someone (mainly the Wright brothers) understood the principle of asymetrical wing and figured out how to build a practical flying machine with the technology available to them.

What do we desire to be improved about existing firearms?

IMO, the main thing is noise. Firing a weapon in a confined space is going to take a few decibels off your hearing, and could result in a permanent case of tinnitus. Suppressors are bulky and not practically concealable.

Other than that, we have firearms that are fast, accurate, and reliable. How much better could they get?

I sure would like to have a weapon that caused either immediately loss of consciousness or motor control without permanent injury, but I can't imagine how such a thing would work, and it wouldn't be a firearm.

- Jim

The only problem with phasers is that they are completely imaginary.

I can't see lasers or masers (the microwave equivalent of lasers) as practical weapons. Their effect is to create heat. You might set your attacker's clothes on fire or cook him if he stood still long enough, but I doubt they could have the instantaneous effect of a bullet.

Also, battery technology is not up to the chore of powering a portable laser for a long time.

The military has been experimenting with an electromagnetic "pain ray" for years. I doubt it will ever be a personal-defense weapon, for reasons explained in this article: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... v-mads.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No, in 2010, we are still using 19th and 20th-century technology for the most part.

- Jim

I can't see an alternative to the rifled steel barrel (except for shotguns, which are perfect in their own way). A genius much smarter and less lazy than I will have to improve on that.

Caseless ammunition would be interesting, but what we have now works fine. It's not even expensive when the market is rational.

For the U.S. military, replacing a million or so weapons and all their support systems is a major hurdle. I was thinking more of private purchases for innovation.

The military is going more for long-range and remotely operated weapons, like the Predator drone.

- Jim

It's a mature technology. Everything that can be done has been done, until another John Moses Browning comes along.

Some of the more interesting avenues of invention have been limited by the feds, for example, compact sound suppressors. It would be really neat to have a pistol that was about as loud at a door slamming.

- Jim