Future weapons: Cool stuff, or just toys?

For those who don't know what Future Weapons is...well, here's a clip from one episode featuring a new .45 cal submachinegun.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=f2kEg8rEPl8&feature=related

So what do you think about these new future weapons? Some sound pretty neat and useful, like this one rifle used in Israel that lets you look and fire around corners without exposing yourself too much. Others seem a bit useless, though, like this new Bangalore Blade, a bangalore that can more efficiently cut through barbed wires--how often do modern soldiers have to cut through barbed wire nowdays?  . .

13 Spider Bloody Chain said:

how often do modern soldiers have to cut through barbed wire nowdays?  . .

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Special forces maybe. Or when ww3 breaks out its possible.

I like the automatic shotgun they had on their once

A 30 round drum of shotgun rounds MWHA WHA HA A!

Also that british explosives developer guy they have on their a few times, especailly with the device that contains the explosion by surrouding it with water to minimize debris and can blow a new doorway into a wall

Whats the point of having an explosion without debris? It's like a air filled baloon, a rubber bullet gun, a prostitue douching with liquor. It just isn't the same!

The Discovery Channel Show?

I've only watched one episode but what I've seen looks like the battlefield of the ****ing future.

They featured 3 gadgets (well, maybe more, I didn't watch the show from the start):

• 
  The XM307/12
  
• 
  The Land Warrior System
  
• 
  The Striker
  

Checking Wikipedia, there's a fourth, but I didn't watch it.

Pretty interesting stuff.

The XM307 is to snipers as bug spray is to bugs.

The Land Warrior seems like something straight out of Science Fiction

The Striker is just win.

TheDrunkenMoron said:

Whats the point of having an explosion without debris? It's like a air filled baloon, a rubber bullet gun, a prostitue douching with liquor. It just isn't the same!

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It's to minimize damage to hostages, whoever's using the device and the building. There's still debris, just not much, and water.


EDIT: The MP7 was feaured on the show, though it's not so much of a futureweapon anymore. I don't know when that episode was made though.

Although there is alot of cool stuff on that show, I dout that maybe half of it will even make it to the front lines, hell it might not even be used in the next 10-15 years.

Well, the Striker and Land Warrior systems, even if just in one battalion, are heading off to Iraq this 2008, IIRC.

As it looks now, firearms are not going to develop much beyond what they are now, until a new form of ammunition is invented and perfected. The M1911  and browning HP design of John Browning are still the main idea for every handgun, for example. The Steyr AUG is from the early '70, and all the newer firearms adopted for military use are slight mixes of old firearms - the HK416&417 system is just a M16 with the gas system of a G36. Not much innovation. And bolt actions met their pinnacle in 1898 with the Mauser lock. Everybody still uses the M2 .50 cal for heavy support - a design perfected in 1921-33. Large parts of the NATO forces use the M3 as their LMG, a modern version of the MG42 of WWII. Russia still hold onto their workhorse design, the AK type gun, from '47.

There is more debate about caliber than guns now - the Americans are hankering for larger handgun bullets, complaining about the 9mm para. They want their .45 back, especially the nationalists. Likewise, they seem to have a hard time fighting with the 5.56 NATO for some reason, but are not quite willing to go back to the 7.62 NATO and therefore the big-ass M14. Instead, they've begun making the same guns in different calibers (HK416 and HK417, SCAR-L and SCAR-H), thus returning to the situation that initially led to the assault rifle - different kinds of capabilities limiting the single soldier to a role, limiting his versatility (think WWII with SMG's, rifles, MG's and so forth).

It's a mess.

Well ****.

What about metal storm though? Isn't that an innovation?

Tuckles said:

Well ****.

What about metal storm though? Isn't that an innovation?

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Yes it is, and H&K's G11 used case-less ammunition - but neither has been accepted for any army, nor has any one proved itself on a battlefield.

It's like Da Vinci's car and helicopter - done, but far from normal.

EDIT: G11, not G41

Or the Steyr ACR--the flechette gun is an awesome idea, but I guess the problem is that it doesn't make big enough holes.

Either the video was a twisted joke, or that was the most bizarre video I've ever seen.

I mean, they're advertising instruments of death like mother****ing mountain bikes or something else that's supposed to be cool but somewhat everyday. goddamn. Horrible.

bobsters34 said:

13 Spider Bloody Chain said:

how often do modern soldiers have to cut through barbed wire nowdays?  . .

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Special forces maybe. Or when ww3 breaks out its possible.

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A good deal, in urban situations.
Think Gaza.

Nahkuri said:

I mean, they're advertising instruments of death like mother****ing mountain bikes or something else that's supposed to be cool but somewhat everyday. goddamn. Horrible.

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Agreed, the host is the most annoying guy I've ever seen.  He has no respect for the stuff on the show, its just a big game to him with lots of guns and explosions.

More than half the stuff on the show will never be used in service too, take the Dragonscale for instance.

On the issue of 5.56 caliber rifles, the problem is yes, they do make a huge mess of the poor guy who gets hit by this round, but he probably won't start to care until after the shooting stops.  Shoot him with a larger, heavier caliber and he'll get the point right away.  I myself would rather have to shoot an enemy only once rather than pound 5 extra rounds from my magazine into him before he drops.

I'm betting that Kriss has major drawbacks that aren't included there, such as:

- Weight
- Complexity
- Reliability
- Number of parts
- Size of parts
- Cost (looks pretty expensive)
- Ease of manufacture

That recoil system looks very difficult to repair.

Seff said:

And bolt actions met their pinnacle in 1898 with the Mauser lock.

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That's debatable.

Buxton said:

Seff said:

And bolt actions met their pinnacle in 1898 with the Mauser lock.

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That's debatable.

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From a popular point of view, not really. The Mauser lock is by far the most successful, even if there are many others that practically work just as well. The SMLE lock is theoretically less safe, but in reality the system simply gives a faster action with an almost non-existent safety compromise. I'd take a SMLE over a Mauser on basis of speed and magazine capacity - I have no idea if the Mauser lock is more accurate, but it's possible.

Buxton said:

I'm betting that Kriss has major drawbacks that aren't included there, such as:

- Weight
- Complexity
- Reliability
- Number of parts
- Size of parts
- Cost (looks pretty expensive)
- Ease of manufacture

That recoil system looks very difficult to repair.

Seff said:

And bolt actions met their pinnacle in 1898 with the Mauser lock.

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That's debatable.

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The same thing happened in the '30s when the M1 Garand showed up, there was the M41 Johnson, which as a little better than the Garand but was too complex to be practical in the field.  The Johnson still saw combat in the early Pacific war due to shortages and delays though.

I'd imagine that the Kriss would be very temperamental about dirt getting in the recoil well.  But aside from that, a .45 ACP submachine gun would make a find addition to any arsenal as long as it performs well.  They can either encase it in such a way that dirt has very little chance of getting in, or make it so dirt has someplace to get out of the way of the bolt as it moves.

Seff said:

I have no idea if the Mauser lock is more accurate, but it's possible.

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If there is an accuracy difference, its very minuscule, because to me they both seem to shoot about the same, the only difference is I have a little harder time opening the Mauser action after firing because I'm also fighting against the firing pin spring.

RR_Raptor65 said:

Seff said:

I have no idea if the Mauser lock is more accurate, but it's possible.

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If there is an accuracy difference, its very minuscule, because to me they both seem to shoot about the same, the only difference is I have a little harder time opening the Mauser action after firing because I'm also fighting against the firing pin spring.

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Sounds right.

like this one rifle used in Israel that lets you look and fire around corners without exposing yourself too much.

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It's about damn time something like this was made.