New Rifle Tech Offers Variable Muzzle Speed

Ponca City, We love you writes "A gun that fires variable-speed bullets that can be set to kill, wound, or just inflict a bruise is being built by a Lund and Company Invention, a toy design studio that makes toy rockets powered by burning hydrogen obtained by electrolyzing water. The company is being funded by the US Army to adapt the technology to fire bullets instead. The new weapon, called the Variable Velocity Weapon System or VWS, lets the soldier use the same rifle for crowd control and combat, by altering the muzzle velocity. It could be loaded with 'rubber bullets' designed only to deliver blunt impacts on a person, full-speed lethal rounds, or projectiles somewhere between the two. Bruce Lund, the company's CEO, says the gun works by mixing a liquid or gaseous fuel with air in a combustion chamber behind the bullet. This determines the explosive capability of the propellant and consequently the velocity of the bullet. 'Projectile velocity varies from non-lethal at 10 meters, to lethal at 100 meters or more, as desired,' says Lund. The existing VWS design is a .50 caliber (12.7 mm) rifle weapon, but Lund says the technology can be scaled to any size, 'handgun to Howitzer.'"

Comments

Re:Oh, good.

[davester666]

I would bet I still have to spend a good long time in the hospital if I'm hit from the Howitzer, even if it is set on 'stun'.

Re:Oh, good.

[loganrapp]

Please, you think the Linux hordes would be at a riot? The sunburns they'd incur would be catastrophic.

Re:You only need 2 settings....

[Thanshin]

Hell, on Star Trek, they only needed 2 settings, Stun and Kill.

What do we need in between those two settings?

- Poke
- Annoy
- Discomfort
- Stun
- Harm
- Maim
- Cripple
- Mutilate
- Dismember
- Terminate
- Massacre
- Disintegrate
- Erase
- Unmake