Posted on 07/22/2008 11:27:48 AM PDT by LibWhacker
A gun that fires variable speed bullets and which can be set to kill, wound or just inflict a bruise is being built by a US toy manufacturer. The weapon is based on technology used to propel toy rockets.
Lund and Company Invention, a toy design studio based near Chicago, makes toy rockets that are powered by burning hydrogen obtained by electrolysing water. Now the company is being funded by the US army to adapt the technology to fire bullets instead.
The US Army are interested in arming soldiers with weapons that can be switched between lethal and non-lethal modes. They asked Company Invention to make a rifle that can fire bullets at various speeds.
(Excerpt) Read more at technology.newscientist.com ...
set phasers to stun!
Good grief what a waste of taxpayer dollars.
You want a soldier to decide whether to set his rifle on kill or stun?
Whoever ordered this boondoggle should be canned. (And I would not be surprised if a local Congressman or Senator “suggested” to the Army that they look into this BS “technology”
Again? Both rocket-propelled and non-lethal ammo have been invented over and over again. They never work well.
MBA Gyrojet dial-a-yield ping! (Probably never get to do that again!)
Drat!
You beat me to it - Star Trek technology made real. Gotta luv it!!
JAG lawyers will have a field day with this if it is adopted.
“Why was your weapon set for kill when you entered that domicile with civilians in there soldier?”
My life and the lives of those arond me are worth too much to play around with "dial a prayer".
i see this as having more applications to domestic use. riots, violent protests and stuff. not war. cops would love it. no need for all the rubber bullets and stuff. one gun, many uses.
I agree. Bad Eye Deer !
No. They don’t want soldiers to decide. They want to give the politicians the ability to decide. I’d be more surprised if it wasn’t a Congressman or Senator that suggested it in the first place than I would be if one stopped in to stop it.
Set howitzers to stun.
Hmmm....I didn’t know that all 1500 fps rounds killed everytime they’re fired?
I thought I’d heard stories about folks just being wounded?
“The officers family will miss him greatly”
Less-than-lethal rounds have a place in both military and law enforcement. The big savings here is that you can easily use both types of rounds through the same weapon, thus eliminating the need to purchase different weapons.
Sorry - if I were on a battlefield, just give me the gun with only the highest setting.
Now I can imagine even more political correctness from our dumb@ss, publicity seeking congresspeople and the MSM
“and in the highly debated raid, it was reported that not all Marines had their guns set to injure-only, which may conflict with Congressionally-established engagement rules and force hearings on the issue....”
Read the article.
From said article: "Lund says that the new weapon system will use different types of bullet for lethal and non-lethal use."
Don't feel bad, though. The "expert" quoted in the article didn't apparently read it either:
"Steve Wright, a security expert at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK warns of the potential risk of variable lethality. "In a high-stress, high-personal-risk zone, there will be a real temptation for soldiers to turn the tuneable lethality switch up to 'kill' mode so that all doubt is removed." "
Bottom line, the soldier will use whatever ammo the chain of command issues. I can see maybe issuing a mix of ammo based on the circumstance, loaded in different magazines -- regular mags for regular ammo, orange mags for less-than-lethal, for example.
“The US Army are interested...”
My 10th grade English teach, Sister Alice, would return this paper for a re-write.
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