Subject:
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Re: Tanks or Power Armor
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.build.mecha
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Date:
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Fri, 27 Aug 2004 00:25:40 GMT
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Viewed:
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424 times
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In lugnet.build.mecha, Allister McLaren wrote:
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I suspect that if we develop a technology that can manipulate gravity enough
to hold a tank off the ground (I really don’t think the fan and skirt design
would be practical in battle), then surely it would also be able to absorb or
counteract any amount of recoil. In fact, the same technology could
conceivably be used to hurl the projectile itself, negating the need for
chemical explosions altogether.
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That’s the idea behind gauss weapons--railguns and
the like. Ostensibly they also make ammunition lighter
because they do away with the propellant charge, and
that loss of weight is made up for in the higher
velocity of the projectile. Ideally, a warhead would
exist that would not be “explosive” in any way, rather
its properties would by themselves convey lethal force.
That would also do away with the dreaded ammunition
hit and/or fire danger. Of course, if you’re using
a plasma warhead (as I do in my own writing--Fusion
Containment, or a magnetic jar of plasma in a warhead)
or nukes you have an entirely new bag of problems...
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As for the future of combat technology, I hold out hope that we can put all
these petty squabbles behind us and learn to get along. Not very much hope,
but I hold it nonetheless.
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Some might suggest (as the late, great Isaac Asimov
did in a few of his short stories) that our infighting
in fact ensures that we won’t be easy pickings for those
in the universe who may happen to have it in for us when
we meet--a la (his example) the Greek city-states fighting
the gigantic, unitary Persian Empire.
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Apart from that, it should be remembered that superior technology does not
necesarily make a superior military. Knowing the enemy, and developing an
appropriate strategy will always be paramount. Rushing in headlong, all guns
blazing might look good on television, but it achieves nothing but killing
and hurting a lot of people needlessly, and that is not what war is about.
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Actually, I have to take exception to the bolded part here. In modern
war--total war--that’s exactly what it’s all about: destroying your enemy’s
capacity to wage war. In that sense, no destruction, however horrific and
wonton, is ever truly meaningless, if it causes terror and demoralization on the
other side. As sad as it is, killing and hurting wantonly is what true modern
war is. We’ve known that since JFC Fuller and the other post-WWI prophets
began writing on “the next war,” and it was borne out by WWII (and then some).
Fortunately, we’ve been lucky enough not to know a real war in our lifetimes,
and most of our parents didn’t know it in theirs (and in the USA, in a real
sense we haven’t known such a war in the memory of anyone living). Pray that we
never do--but the little skirmishes and uneven fights we’ve engaged in since
Korea don’t count as “war” in the sense of “combat between opponents of roughly
similar capabilities.” The terrible nature and cost of such conflicts is,
ironically (and perhaps thankfully) what’s kept them from happening in the
nuclear age. (On the other hand, however, it’s kept us from toppling some of
the real nuts out there; no matter how one feels about Iraq, I think you’d be
hard-pressed to find anyone who wouldn’t rather have seen Kim Jong Il get a
beat-down. But he’s got Seoul as a hostage...and millions of others within the
range of his missiles besides.)
Sorry for getting so heavy there. Please set followups accordingly if you want
to roll the “what is war” ball around some more.
regards
LFB
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Tanks or Power Armor
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| (...) I suspect that if we develop a technology that can manipulate gravity enough to hold a tank off the ground (I really don't think the fan and skirt design would be practical in battle), then surely it would also be able to absorb or counteract (...) (20 years ago, 26-Aug-04, to lugnet.build.mecha, FTX)
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