Article

2010-03-21 Science

Star Trek-style force-field armour being developed by military scientists

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Posted by Bulldog 2010-03-21 04:05|| || Front Page|| [2 views ] Top

#1 "Tap the warp engines for the shields, Mr. Scott!"

Posted by AlmostAnonymous5839 2010-03-21 06:46|| 2010-03-21 06:46|| Front Page Top

#2 Such an electromagnetic pulse would fry electronics, ON/IN THE TANK.

Posted by Redneck Jim 2010-03-21 11:31|| 2010-03-21 11:31|| Front Page Top

#3 RJ is right, Military equipment is shielded against EMP pulse but this might be pushing the boundaries. Shielding the vehicle and any other electronic equipment nearby might be a real challenge.

Posted by tipover 2010-03-21 11:54|| 2010-03-21 11:54|| Front Page Top

#4 Even assuming it works like advertised, sounds like it would be vulnerable to volley fire, or even just getting hosed down with small arms fire prior to a shaped charge hit. It's discharging a battery, right?

Presumably this wouldn't be combined with existing reactive armor sets, as I'd be more worried about shorts setting off the explosive plates than any damage to the interior electronics, which should be somewhat shielded inside the faraday cage of the armor shell, anyways.

Posted by Mitch H. 2010-03-21 13:59|| http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/ 2010-03-21 13:59|| Front Page Top

#5 With that much electromagnetic energy around, I would worry about the health risks to the soldiers as much as the electronics.

Posted by Anonymoose 2010-03-21 16:33|| 2010-03-21 16:33|| Front Page Top

#6 No you make the projectiles from non-ferrous materials that are immune to a magnetic field. Defense neutralized.

Posted by crosspatch 2010-03-21 17:32|| 2010-03-21 17:32|| Front Page Top

#7 Even presuming the worl was too dumb to encase their explosives in something that isn't magnetic, this would repel IEDs how exactly?

Posted by Mike N. 2010-03-21 20:50|| 2010-03-21 20:50|| Front Page Top

#8 I suspect what we are reading here is 'journalism'.

Posted by SteveS 2010-03-21 21:16|| 2010-03-21 21:16|| Front Page Top

#9 I'm sorry, but if you have the capacitor ability to power this thing, then likely you could arm every tank with a frigging rail gun.

This isn't the first time this idea has popped up, I've seen rumors about it before. And funny how the articles always say they can do this and yet you wait five years and the same idea pops up in the same stages.

Posted by Silentbrick 2010-03-21 22:07|| 2010-03-21 22:07|| Front Page Top

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