through the first two bodies – the beam spreads out a bit, and you get a colloidal explosion in the third where the steam blasts the body apart.
…An artillery round close up does that, I told Corey, but he could see the memory images that recalled. Could we design a small device that was man portable that would explode incoming artillery, and mortar fire? These laser can’t do indirect fire so we need to protect against that, and…how about a better hand grenade. The design flowed into my head, and I grabbed at two of the designs. Those are doable. Let’s make those two. I do need to know what we’ll be facing from the alien horde – I suppose that info comes later.
Quite , Corey thought in a British accent.
You can think in different accents? I thought.
(Chuckle)
FORT BRAGG
“Where did these things come from Sarge? Hope it isn’t like the last batch of stuff we got.”
“Chill Komenski. Just see what you can hit with this thing. We got water jugs, cars, drums of gas, concrete block walls, and blocks of ballistic gel …the fun stuff,” said the sergeant.
Komenski sighted at the ballistic gel – it literally exploded, and ripped off the tabletop it was lying on.
“Whoa! I like this Sarge. No recoil. What next?” Komenski asked.
“Flip that switch on the side, and hold down the trigger. See what it’ll do to that concrete block wall.”
Komenski sighted at the wall that was about 250 meters downrange. He flipped the gun to continuous pulse mode, and held the trigger back as he swung his aim across the block wall. The wall was simply disintegrated. The squad from the 3 rd SFG let out a big yell. “Damn Sarge. What next?”
“Squad weapons on target. Fire until you are out of ammo, or I declare ceasefire. Squad Ready. Aim. Fire.”
The squad fired for a good four minutes without running out of fuel.
“Ceasefire!” yelled the sergeant, and he could be heard above the whip crack of the lasers.
The targets of old cars, and poured concrete were shredded.
“Oorah!” yelled the troops.
“What do you slackers think?” the sergeant yelled.
The men started hooting, and whistling.
“Komenski. How much left in your reservoir?” the sergeant shouted.
“Little under one-half sergeant,” he replied. “What’s next sergeant?”
“We have the piece de resistance. Mister Frank Wordley here has been loaned to us from the company that makes these little toys. They have one more toy for us today, but they don’t have many of these yet. He is a twenty-year vet from Sigma Max. This is a shoulder-fired rail gun. It accelerates a sabot round of aluminum with a depleted uranium core to about eleven times the speed of sound. Its magazine holds one hundred rounds, and it takes 1.2 seconds between shots. They are trying to speed that up a little, but it may be adequate. The gun is a little heavier, and the sights range from 100 to 2,000 meters,” the sergeant explained.
“Sights start at 100 meters because you don’t want to be any closer to the target. Questions – while we are waiting for a target?” Word asked.
“Are the rounds explosive? Why are they depleted uranium?”
“No explosives. Rounds carry a tremendous amount of kinetic energy. The heavier rounds recoil a lot even with the oil buffers. You can use solid aluminum slugs in a pinch, plus you can carry more of those. We are getting an appropriate target at 1,000 meters,” Word said. An old, Type 99 Chinese main battle tank was towed onto the range to emphasize his statement. “Fellows – I’m going to shoot this one. They’ve been working me 14 hours a day for the last month, and I am going to take out my anger on that tank. Do I have a spotter? How about the corporal with the questions? Yes – you’ll get to shoot it next,” Word said, and the soldier hustled over.
“Looks like 1,000 meters. Wind at 10-12 knots. How about trying for somewhere on the turret?” the soldier with the binoculars said. “We’re given
…An artillery round close up does that, I told Corey, but he could see the memory images that recalled. Could we design a small device that was man portable that would explode incoming artillery, and mortar fire? These laser can’t do indirect fire so we need to protect against that, and…how about a better hand grenade. The design flowed into my head, and I grabbed at two of the designs. Those are doable. Let’s make those two. I do need to know what we’ll be facing from the alien horde – I suppose that info comes later.
Quite , Corey thought in a British accent.
You can think in different accents? I thought.
(Chuckle)
FORT BRAGG
“Where did these things come from Sarge? Hope it isn’t like the last batch of stuff we got.”
“Chill Komenski. Just see what you can hit with this thing. We got water jugs, cars, drums of gas, concrete block walls, and blocks of ballistic gel …the fun stuff,” said the sergeant.
Komenski sighted at the ballistic gel – it literally exploded, and ripped off the tabletop it was lying on.
“Whoa! I like this Sarge. No recoil. What next?” Komenski asked.
“Flip that switch on the side, and hold down the trigger. See what it’ll do to that concrete block wall.”
Komenski sighted at the wall that was about 250 meters downrange. He flipped the gun to continuous pulse mode, and held the trigger back as he swung his aim across the block wall. The wall was simply disintegrated. The squad from the 3 rd SFG let out a big yell. “Damn Sarge. What next?”
“Squad weapons on target. Fire until you are out of ammo, or I declare ceasefire. Squad Ready. Aim. Fire.”
The squad fired for a good four minutes without running out of fuel.
“Ceasefire!” yelled the sergeant, and he could be heard above the whip crack of the lasers.
The targets of old cars, and poured concrete were shredded.
“Oorah!” yelled the troops.
“What do you slackers think?” the sergeant yelled.
The men started hooting, and whistling.
“Komenski. How much left in your reservoir?” the sergeant shouted.
“Little under one-half sergeant,” he replied. “What’s next sergeant?”
“We have the piece de resistance. Mister Frank Wordley here has been loaned to us from the company that makes these little toys. They have one more toy for us today, but they don’t have many of these yet. He is a twenty-year vet from Sigma Max. This is a shoulder-fired rail gun. It accelerates a sabot round of aluminum with a depleted uranium core to about eleven times the speed of sound. Its magazine holds one hundred rounds, and it takes 1.2 seconds between shots. They are trying to speed that up a little, but it may be adequate. The gun is a little heavier, and the sights range from 100 to 2,000 meters,” the sergeant explained.
“Sights start at 100 meters because you don’t want to be any closer to the target. Questions – while we are waiting for a target?” Word asked.
“Are the rounds explosive? Why are they depleted uranium?”
“No explosives. Rounds carry a tremendous amount of kinetic energy. The heavier rounds recoil a lot even with the oil buffers. You can use solid aluminum slugs in a pinch, plus you can carry more of those. We are getting an appropriate target at 1,000 meters,” Word said. An old, Type 99 Chinese main battle tank was towed onto the range to emphasize his statement. “Fellows – I’m going to shoot this one. They’ve been working me 14 hours a day for the last month, and I am going to take out my anger on that tank. Do I have a spotter? How about the corporal with the questions? Yes – you’ll get to shoot it next,” Word said, and the soldier hustled over.
“Looks like 1,000 meters. Wind at 10-12 knots. How about trying for somewhere on the turret?” the soldier with the binoculars said. “We’re given
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