Five Overused Ideas for Weapons and Armor

In America, we all love our weapons, our guns, our soldiers. These are some of the most overused ideas for weapons in the near (or far) future.

1. Railgun

   This technology is currently being developed by the US Navy. It works on a principle of using electromagnetic “rails” to fire a ferric (iron-containing, and therefore magnetic) projectile at extreme speeds. Tests have shown that projectiles can be accelerated to amazing speeds, and science fiction books such as the Halo series have such weapons that can accelerate projectiles to a considerable fraction of the speed of light! However, current railguns are limited by power requirements, and do not function as well as the Navy wants them to.

2. EMP

   EMP is a wave given off whenever a nuclear weapon explodes. It stands for Electromagnetic Pulse, and it disables all active electronic devices in the area. The possibilities are endless. An EMP bomb could shut down a command center, a EMP blast could disable planes, tanks, anything running on electricity, and it could render commanders blind. Anybody who has watched the Matrix movies knows about EMP, in the movies it is used by the human ships to disable all machines. In Ace Combat 6 for the Xbox 360, multiplayer battles can give you planes equipped with EMP, disabling other people and causing them to crash. There is, as of right now, no practical way of storing an EMP charge.

3. Plasma-Based Weapons

   This is a standard of sci-fi novels as well, a directed-energy plasma weapon (the other, of course, is the ubiquitous laser/blaster). Plasma is a fourth state of matter, having a very high temperature and being able to melt through any substance. This is what stars are made out of, and as a weapon it could prove to be very destructive. The only problem is creating and storing the plasma. How would you store it if it burns through anything? One solution is by using a magnetic field “bubble” that would keep it from touching anything, but power limitations make the magnetic field unusable. Another problem is firing it. One way is to create another “bubble” outside the turret and fill it with plasma, then discharge the bubble and guide it with magnetic pulses. However, there has to be a way of keeping that magnetic bubble stable from the vehicle, which is a problem. Another is to use a magnetic field much like a railgun and use pulses to force the plasma through the field in a laser-like beam, but the same power limitations apply.

4. Powered Armor

   This is a part of many sci-fi shooters, and the US military is working on developing powered exoskeletons right now. The basic principle is that of using machines to augment a user's abilities and strength, enabling them to run faster, hit harder, lift heavier objects, and as protection from weapons fire. However, powered armor, as it name implies, requires power, and current power sources are not feasible (most of the current models either run off a battery or have to be plugged into a generator) for battlefield use. However, one day humanity might be able to produce an onboard power source such as the miniature fusion reactors in the MJOLNIR armor worn by the Master Chief in the Halo series, or some other nuclear power source such as the battle armor worn by Felix in the novel Armor, by John Steakley

5. Shielding

   The most overused defensive capability of all time, just beating cloaking, is the use of energy shielding. Science fiction uses energy shielding all the time, yet never explains why. This is the main problem with shields, there is no current theory as to how they would work. Therefore, there's not much to say about it, other than it won't happen for quite a long time.