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Canada's Next-Generation Military Smart Gun Unveiled
Zothecula writes Looking every bit like a weapon from a science fiction movie, the latest integrated assault rifle prototype being developed for the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is packed with some very smart weapons technology. Along with the ability to fire new lightweight telescoped ammunition, and a secondary effects module that adds either a three-round 40 mm grenade launcher or a 12-gauge shotgun, there is also a NATO-standard power and data bus to allow the attachment of smart accessories, such as electro-optical sights and position sensors that connect to command and control networks.
Those critters from LV-426 better look out.
Does it come with optional voice synthesizer to negotiate peaceful solutions on behalf of the soldier?
Can it distinguish between a gun and a cell phone or a banana and optionally refuse to fire?
The rifle is really pretty slick. Some of the other underdocumented features include:
1. voice recording of stephen harper espousing platitudes about patriotism and freedom, automatically activated when any american president declares a 'coalition' of anything.
2. tactical Rick Mercer video will automatically be deployed in the event of house of lords/house of commons dispute over military action or funding
3. much like the leafs general manager change, this weapon does not statistically improve the likelyhood of winning.
4. can equip with molson or Labatt, and in the event of an emergency can replace most domestic tap handles.
5. 3 fire modes, single, auto, and 'prorogue' designed to assist in saving political leadership from being packed up and shipped back to their strip mall constituency in alberta.
6. 40mm launcher can fire traditional incendiary and gas ordinances as well as store timbits.
7. Dissipated barrel heat is recycled to bake up to 2 butter tarts.
Good people go to bed earlier.
This doesn't happen to be the ZF-1 does it?
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
I bet this was not designed by a soldier. Try dragging all that high-tech through the mud and sand then see if it still works.
That was my first thought, although I was a Marine, not a soldier. To a grunt, the most important characteristics in a weapon are:
1. Reliability
2. Weight
3. Maintenance
They are carrying these things for 16 or 18 hours per day, along with the ammunition. That is exhausting, and exhausted soldiers are not alert and make dumb mistakes that get people killed. When they finally stop the patrol, and go into a defensive position, they do not want to spend the next two hours disassembling and cleaning some complicated piece of equipment. Not every man needs a grenade launcher. One or two per squad is enough, and it is better if it is a separate weapon. I have never met a single grunt that believes replacing the M79 with the M203 was a good idea. Yet TFA compares this new weapon to the M203.