Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

The Revolutionary American Weapons of War That Never Happened

Posted by samzenpus on from the pipe-dreams dept.

An anonymous reader writes There have been many US military machines of war that seemed to be revolutionary, but never make it out of the prototype stage. As Robert Farley explains: "Sometimes they die because they were a bad idea in the first place. For the same reasons, bad defense systems can often survive the most inept management if they fill a particular niche well enough." A weapon can seem like an amazing invention, but it still has to adapt to all sorts of conditions--budgetary, politics, and people's plain bias. Here's a look at a few of the best weapons of war that couldn't win under these "battlefield" conditions.

3 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. Revolutionary American weapons... by CurryCamel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You mean the rifled musket?

    1. Re:Revolutionary American weapons... by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah I was hoping for some steampunk goodness as well, a la Brisco County Jr.

      In other news you cannot, cannot have an article about wacky war machines without prolific pictures, it contravenes no less than six seperate articles of the Internet Convention on Clickbait Guidelines.

  2. What, no pictures?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Jeez...