detrius

Here's my little crazy weapon trifecta:




AC-130 Gunship

Armament:

AC-130H Pave Spectre II
* 1× 40 mm L60 Bofors cannon
* 1× 105 mm (4.13 in) M102 howitzer

AC-130U "Spooky" Gunship
* 1× 25 mm (0.984 in) 5-Barrel GAU-12/U Equalizer Gatling gun
* 1× 30 mm L60 Bofors cannon
* 1× 105 mm (4.13 in) M102 howitzer


A flying tank? Which sick fuck had that idea?

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detrius

A gun shooting one million bullets per minute:

detrius

Futuristic spaceship propulsion systems:

Atomic Rocket: Space War: Weapons

Atomic Rocket: Engine List

Brave Republic

The Gyrojet was actually used by MACV SOG in Vietnam, as were pen flares, Dutch VB Grenades (golfball grenades) and an interesting version of the M-60 that was man portable with belt feed and boxes of ammo carried on a modified lightweight rucksack frame (this monster was in inventory but rarely used for obvious weight reasons).

The Soviet anti tank dogs were mentioned earlier. These dogs carried a charge on their backs with a simple stick lever detomator. The dogs were starved and then trained to find food under running tanks. Soviets used Soviet tanks in training as you'd expect--does anyone guess what happened ? Many of the dogs blew up soviet tanks or were spooked by the oncoming German armor and ran away. However it is thought that at least 300 German tanks had been destroyed this way so the Germans took many countermeasures including ordering troops to shoot all dogs on sight to "protect against rabies" . Eventually tanklmounted flame throwers were effective deterrents to these dogs Full story here (as good as any) : Anti-tank dog - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The Germans developed a curved barrel attachment for their g43 assault rifle--the one that is all stamped steel and the weapon that the AK47 was based on. (I think thats the right designation--cant check as my job fileters anythuing gun related the bastards!) but it's pretty awesome and works. It literally fits over end of original barrell and is tightened in place by a set screw. Barrel curves so you can fire around a corner! Thiswas used.

They also developed the first battery powered night scope called a Vampyr--it had all sorts of wires and attached to a huge battery pack carried by the soldier.

So all these things plus the very first jet fighters (which actually saw combat in last days of the war) means if those krazy krauts only had enough juice to run the war one more year--you might have seen a huge disparity between technology which could have evened the odds with their severe manpower and resource issues............or not

The US was pretty resourceful. Our tanks may have been poor matches for the germans--but we had a limitless supply of them in the pipes and the Germans did not. And even with mass production of the "ronson" as the fireprone Sherman's were nicknamed, we had other tanks like the m18 tank destroyer that were beginning to show up in large numbers that could take on the German armor. Many Shermans being converted as the war progreesed to specialty vehicles and even armored troop carriers.

Anyway, the other oddball device I liked was also used by MACV SOG. It was a board affixed with all manner of fireworks, noisemakers and explosives with time delays that could be left and set off to make a chasing enemyy patrol thing there was another firefight nearby and throw them off your trail.

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Brave Republic

"Spooky" AKA "Puff the Magic Dragon" RAWKS!

Often called in for support for SOG Recon Teams on ground during "Praerie fire" extractions. The gatling can lay down 700 rounds in a diameter of 31 feet or some such meat grinder effect.

detrius

It's still sick.

Remember those old Western movies where the Indians were riding around wagon forts and randomly shooting arrows inside? This thing is the equivalent of those guys riding flying horses and being armed with RPGs.

I mean, I'm not complaining or something, just... sheesh.

CrossingStyx

Ya, the flying tank was the best invention ever. If you can keep the skies locked down, those things are fucking disgusting.

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Cindy Claveau

According to the Military Channel show I watched last night, it was an Army Captain back from Vietnam who wanted to come up with a way to protect Vietnamese hamlets. Then later they started using them on the Ho Chi Minh trail.

Now the C130 variant is one way special forces units can keep alive in hostile territory.

Damned good idea, I'd say.

Cindy Claveau

Luftwaffe Henschel Hs P.75 push-prop fighter. A 1941 aircraft design, it was never produced due to the number of pilots who got in backwards and crashed on takeoff.

(I kid - Curtiss actually built variations of this after the war in their XP-55)

Charlemagne Allen

Little correction: the 40 mm Bofors is being replaced with a 30 mm gun.

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Pretty things:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/charlemagneallen/

Gigs

Congratulations, they've invented the "shot-gun".

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Trout Recreant

I'm a bit disappointed in this thread. I was hoping for the posters' crazy weapon ideas instead of legitimate military ideas. Like detailed illustrations of incendiary manure flingers or nitroglycerin-soaked tennis balls full of roofing nails or the Exploding Fingernail Clippers of DOOOOOOM.

I expect illustrations, photoshops, and maybe even a lolcat.

I'll be back.

detrius

You say he wanted to protect villages, I say he missed handling his cannon and was looking for a way to get around those annoying trees.

Charlemagne Allen

Ultima Ratio Regum

(just hope it doesn't crash... still in beta)

Snow Crash - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

detrius

This thread has kinda passed over what I regard as one of the craziest weapons ever, the Orion spacecraft, which was conceived by the NASA in 1973.



The idea of this spacecraft is to use nukes for propulsion; it carries a number of bombs and spits them out behind the ship through an opening at its tail. The bomb detonates and the spacecraft, protected by a massive shield, is being pushed forward.

Of course that means you have an oversized machinegun which is capable of shooting nuclear weapons in rapid succession. All you have to do is to aim your ship's leaden butt at your enemy and start pooping nuclear droplets at them while you laugh at them as the shield protects you from counterattacks. How crazy is that?

Aimee Weber

Of course the Orion would be vulnerable to simultaneous attacks from multiple directions. Still, a nuke-proof nuke-shooter would pretty much be the ultimate weapon.

George Dyson did a great speech on this on TED:

George Dyson on Project Orion | Video on TED.com

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Lucifer Baphomet

The F-104 Starfighter..



Yes, it was pretty, but it was probably the worst aircraft design ever to enter general use. Seriously poor safety record.

Known in the Luftwaffe as "The Flying Coffin", "Widowmaker" or "ground nail".

In Germany there was a joke, that if you wanted a Starfighter, all you had to do was buy an acre of land, and wait.

But it did give rise to Robert Calvert's seminal album, Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters.



All the lyrics

Some tunage..

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io Kukulcan

yeah, seriously Lockheed, wtf is up with the Starfighter?
didn't Chuck Yeager test fly that thing, and almost killed himself?
at least that's what happened in the movie The Right Stuff.

Lucifer Baphomet

Yup..

that's how he lost two of his fingers

Cindy Claveau

Hey don't diss the Skunk Works. Sometimes when you leap that far ahead of the curve, you're gonna lay some lemons. But they also built some mind-boggling planes.

My personal favorite is the SR71, which still holds the air speed record (I believe?). The titanium skin swells at Mach 3, so when it's at rest on the ground the seams in the skin are loose, allowing fuel to leak out.

Cindy Claveau

Googling "Skunk works" images I found this.

WTF?

io Kukulcan

i agree, the SR-71 has to be the coolest plane ever made.
also, the P-38 Lightning.

The Starfighter just doesn't look right.
Stubby wings?
And you know how airplanes just have to look "right".

Lucifer Baphomet

It's a Cormorant


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormorant_(aircraft)

Cindy Claveau

Last fall I was reading about supersonic cruise missiles and was surprised to learn that the US didn't have any. The Russians and India did joint development on the "Brahmos", but the US "RATTLRS" project (another Lockheed project) is still little more than a "technology demonstration".

Cindy Claveau

Looks suspiciously like something out of Star Wars. Does George Lucas know about this?