From The Economist we learn that the United States has a rifle that shoots around corners*. Like you, I worry how this will be handled by GURPS and other tactical games. And if you thought computer FPSs were no fun now…
* OK, so the bullet doesn’t actually go around corners. What happens is that the soldier or Marine points at where he thinks the enemy is, then aims at open space beyond the obstacle and fires. A computer inside the bullet counts the appropriate number of revolutions in flight and then explodes the bullet, killing the target with shrapnel. This isn’t a theory; the rifle is in use now and getting “rave reviews.”
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I’ve got a college buddy and a cousin over there; I’ve duly forwarded along the link. Somehow, though, I doubt that it’s the Marines getting the fun toys. They’re more of the “hit him with a rock” school of technologically advanced warfare.
Comment by Gabriel — January 23, 2012 @ 11:09 am
During WW2, the Germans included teargas inside their 37mm anti-tank shell. The idea was that the shell would penetrate the armour, and if the shot didn’t break anything serious, the teargas would disable the crew. Unfortunately the teargas was a pellet the size of a Bayer aspirin tablet, and there are no reported cases where the crew of a hit tank even noticed it – it wasn’t until stocks of the ammunition were captured by the British that anyone outside Germany knew it was there.
I’m thinking about the size of a bullet, the number of significant fragments it can produce, and the size of the explosive charge it can carry. My son recently had one of his carbon-fibre arrows ‘explode’ (shatter would be the accurate phrase); one of the fragments broke a spirit level in the bow’s sight, and a chunk of glass speared into his … shirtsleeve. A nylon T-shirt blocked the sharp-edged fragment effectively (I begin to believe in Kevlar). I suspect soldiers often wear more than T-shirts and boardshorts …
Comment by Anonymous — January 23, 2012 @ 6:41 pm
The article gave the size of the munition.
I suspect that the bullet doesn’t simply explode but explodes directionally. The details are hush-hush, of course.
Comment by Neko_Bijin — January 23, 2012 @ 6:58 pm