guns...replacable?

[VAE VICTUS]

can anyone see far into the future and speculate on what may replace the gun in warfare?i mean the sword,spear etc. were used for thousands of years and now they have been replaced,so when will something new come onto the scene?lasers?
this is like a reverse history question.

history is that part which has happened and is written;the present is unfolding and being written about;the future has yet to happen,but is still written about

[Alexanderofmacedon]

I hate the use of guns. It seems so dishonorable

[LeftEyeNine]

Let's analyze the matter of "being obsolete".

The swords, spears and bows replaced with guns because they did lack range and needed too much physical effort to use. The accurate range and the rapid rate of fire lessened the rate of hot contact, that's why it outclassed the former weapons.

The next thing is, I think all about the new weapon being instant - hard to identify and decreasing or removal of the need of ammunition.

Actually the only thing I can imagine of is some kind of psychic power. May sound funny but well, the brain attacks would be fatal enoguh to replace guns, I think.

[Kraxis]

Well, wouldn't some kind of futuristic weapon be much like a gun? Or in fact guns. I mean they have more or less the same characteristics. Easy to carry, easy to use, ranged, quite fast and fairly accurate.

At best I can imagine sometime when/if shieldsare invented that melee weapons might get a comeback, but guns and their successors will stay on.

Of course it is possible that we might concieve of a weapon that we can't imagine as of now.

[AntiochusIII]

Who needs guns when some genius (re-)invent the lightsaber?

[Kraxis]

Who needs guns when some genius (re-)invent the lightsaber?

Me! You still need to be able to parry with the thing, and I doubt that you can learn that as fast as you can learn to shoot properly. I even doubt you can ever learn to react to a gunshot.

[Kagemusha]

I dont think guns are going anywhere.I think we will have more combo guns in the future wich have ability to shoot different kind of projectiles and also maybe hyper-sound and pneumatic shockwawes.

[Productivity]

I don't think we'll see anything hugely different. All through history all weapons have been a vehicle to apply energy to the enemy. Maybe they'll start varying what sort of energy they apply, but I can't think of any other type of weaponry.

[Meneldil]

I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.

Quite clear

[The Stranger]

damn, i wanted to post that too. gues you beat me

[Marcellus]

It depends what you mean by 'guns'. If you mean something that uses an explosive to rapidly expand gases in a narrow tube and force a bit of metal out at high speeds, then I imagine that they will be replaced at some point by things such as railguns and then maybe energy weapons.

If by 'guns' you mean something that can transfer energy onto a target at range, then I think that guns will be with us for a very long time, maybe even forever (unfortunately).

[Brutus]

Phasers, obviously.

[yesdachi]

I saw a show a while ago that did a segment on an electrical disruption weapon (not an EMP type weapon like the Matrix, this was directional and continual) that they fired at a car and made it stall out. It had really short range and didn’t mention its effects on people.

I don’t think the “gun” is going anywhere anytime soon but with as much stuff solders are forced to carry (weapons, gadgets, body armor, etc.) with them and such a high focus on survivability combined with the limited use of large combat vehicles in urban settings I would not be surprised to see an exo-suit type armor/weapon be developed soon. Something that could take being hit by an RPG and still maneuver thru a doorway.

[lars573]

I don't see firearms (as we now know them) being replaced in my life time. The might be replaced with caseless ammo that I've read about. From there we could go to weapons that shoot plasma charges. Or to rail guns (metal round shot by magnetic attraction/repulsion down the barrel).

[master of the puppets]

the effect of any gun directly relies on the enemy it challenges.
when armors on knights became too strong swords would be laid aside and the firearm was picked up
when we come up with a armor that will resist the bullet then a new thing will spawn, be it a sound wave weapon or something that fires superheated plasma guided by electrical emmulsions (idea )

but if the gun does become futile to some new armor then a new weapon will arise

[AntiochusIII]

Me! You still need to be able to parry with the thing, and I doubt that you can learn that as fast as you can learn to shoot properly. I even doubt you can ever learn to react to a gunshot.

I always feel that it's not the Jedi's force but the in-built anti-bullet/laser system of the lightsaber that allows those showy blocking-the-shoot moves by the Jedi...

Hmm...

[Seamus Fermanagh]

I don’t think the “gun” is going anywhere anytime soon but with as much stuff solders are forced to carry (weapons, gadgets, body armor, etc.) with them and such a high focus on survivability combined with the limited use of large combat vehicles in urban settings I would not be surprised to see an exo-suit type armor/weapon be developed soon. Something that could take being hit by an RPG and still maneuver thru a doorway.

"To the everlasting glory of the infantry shines the name of Roger Young"
Go M.I.!

My view:

You cannot make the foot soldier obsolete.

Foot soldiers need some form of personal weapon capable of initiating violence in a controlled - but at need lethal - fashion.

A ranged weapon that can double as a close-quarters weapon makes a better choice than one capable of only close-in combat.

The gun, in some form, fits this bill too well to ever be discarded (though its format (sonic, rail, chemical slug-thrower, energy discharge) may vary.

Because of the knock-down capability inherent in a slug-thrower (chem or mag), such weapons are likely to be part of any future "fire team."

Seamus

[Papewaio]

The High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS), a weapon system that is under development by The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), will weigh around 1,650 lbs (750 kg). In an effort to combine the high energy density of a solid state laser with the thermal management of a liquid laser, the "HEL weapon" as it has been dubbed by its developers, is a prototype capable of firing a mild one kilowatt (kW) beam. Plans are underway to build a stronger 15-kW version by the end of 2005 and an even more powerful version that will produce a 150-kW beam that is capable of knocking down a missile will be ready by 2007 for fitting onto fighter aircraft.

Liquid lasers that can fire a continuous beam require large cooling systems, while solid state laser beams are more intense but must be fired in pulses to stop them from overheating. In the past, both types of lasers were very bulky because of their need for these huge cooling systems. The only aircraft they could be fitted to were the size of jumbo jets.

So in two years you will see a 100 fold increase in power of fighter jet mounted lasers.

It would not be hard to imagine seeing anti-missile laser gattling guns mounted on Aircraft carriers and tanks.

The next stage would be as an actual main weapon on a tank.

The advantage is the speed in which you can turn a mirror compared with turning a turret.

So a submarine could have a laser periscope for attacking shipping...
Imagine... add a disco ball and you have an area effect weapon.

Ten years from now infantry weilded anti-tank lasers may make tanks obsolete.

[Papewaio]

Then you get nuclear detonation powered xray lasers.

[lars573]

Then you get nuclear detonation powered xray lasers.

That sound suspiciously like dogs with bees in their mouths and when they bark they shoot bees at you.

[Spino]

I predict in the future sharks will have frickin' laser beams on their heads!

[English assassin]

That sound suspiciously like dogs with bees in their mouths and when they bark they shoot bees at you.

Do I detect the martian chronicles?

Just to play, solders will carry guns whilst their main targets are vulnerable to guns. I can't see any possibility that all over body armour will be able to defeat a bullet (bearing in mind that if armour could defeat current bullets, it would be relatively easy just to increase the energy of the round. In fact modern infantry weapons have been going the other way so it could be as easy as just going back to a good old .303). Therefore all the while soldiers fight soldiers they are going to carry guns of some sort.

If the main adversary changes then I guess guns could become obsolete/change radically. There was a story a while back about the US continuing to work on pilotless drones and battlefield robots, and supposing they became the major feature on the battlefield then I guess you can at least imagine there might be better ways of disabling them than shooting projectiles at them. Maybe a heavily armoured robot could be best disabled by overloading its sensors in some way, for instance. Or, IIRC, there are artillery rounds which "loiter" over a battlefield, only to direct themselves down onto a target when it is illuminated with a laser designator by an infantryman. So the weapon of the future could be a laser pointer...

Mind you even then for morale reasons if no other I bet soldiers will still be carrying a gun of some kind.

[GoreBag]

Well, the missile has already begun to replace the gun in many respects. We may see another "gunpowder" weapon that isn't technically a gun - at first, even the hand-held firearms were cannons, not guns.

Laser weapons would sure be crazy... but as English Assassin said, robots are more likely.

[ah_dut]

I don't see firearms (as we now know them) being replaced in my life time. The might be replaced with caseless ammo that I've read about. From there we could go to weapons that shoot plasma charges. Or to rail guns (metal round shot by magnetic attraction/repulsion down the barrel).

Yes, all possible. I'd like to think that there'd be a different method of activating the gun other than physical triggers though, I like the idea of mental triggers, wires off the head sort of thing with weaponary integrated into coats or something, at least for Personal Defense purposes, perhaps darts instead of gunpowder?

You don't need to tell me I've been reading too much sci fi

As to the personal soldier though, if the laser thing works out...then it may well replace modern weaponary. However, I strongly doubt old fashioned lead slugs will jsut drop out of fashion anytime soon...they work and work pretty well to my knowledge

[Papewaio]

The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) included so-called third-generation, or nuclear directed-energy, weapons. While the long-term goal for SDI was an effective nonnuclear defense, research also continued on promising new nuclear explosive concepts. Design teams began studies of the nuclear-powered x-ray laser as a candidate defense technology and explored the physics of such weapons in underground nuclear tests. In addition, particle beams, the free-electron laser, and other nonnuclear directed-energy weapon concepts were studied on a laboratory scale.

Nuclear Powered X-Ray Laser

The initial centerpiece of the project was to be an X-ray laser curtain that was to be deployed as a satellite and powered by a nuclear warhead built into the satellite -- in theory the energy from the warhead detonation was to pump a series of laser emitters in the satellite and produce an impenetrable barrier to incoming warheads. However, the initial (and only) test done on the design, done in an underground shaft, gave nominally positive results that could easily be dismissed as coming from a faulty detector; due to the use of a nuclear explosion as the power source, the detector device was destroyed during the experiment and could not be examined after fact.

SDI- Wiki

A theory that may one day be viable...

[VAE VICTUS]

Yes, all possible. I'd like to think that there'd be a different method of activating the gun other than physical triggers though, I like the idea of mental triggers, wires off the head sort of thing with weaponary integrated into coats or something, at least for Personal Defense purposes, perhaps darts instead of gunpowder?

what if you get pissed,and with all the words going through your mind who knows what the gun could do?and if you had to think "shoot" or "fire" wouldnt you get tired of thinking it?fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire...i dunno, i kije asking questions of no relevance.

[The_Doctor]

When will these guys be around?

[Uesugi Kenshin]

That is the best mech ever..... Except it needs the forest/swamp camo pain job in MWIV.

I don't think mental triggers would work out too well, but I can't say for sure. Probably best not to complicate it that much and keep things simple, I also have a feeling (for whatever reason) that it would be far more practical and less expensive to stick with a physical trigger of some sort.