Re: [HoE] Caseless ammo and modern weapons

[DarrinBrig@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/21/98 11:55:34 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
ecyoung@mediaone.net writes:

> I find it very hard to believe that caseless ammo is not a lot more popular
>  100 years from now. There are far too many advantages to caseless ammo, and
>  the technology to do it is almost perfected now. Caseless ammo is lighter,
>  cheaper to manufacture, reduces weapon maintenance, etc.... Granted,
>  currently the only weapon using caseless ammo is the H&K G11 K2. But I know
>  this will change in 100 years.

Cheaper to make?  Are you sure?  In any sci-fi game, its always a fair
question to ask "why do they still use old technology" like ballistic/powder
weapons, and the answer is usually the same: cost, materials available,
manufacturing technology available, etc.  Sure, the most technologically
advanced countries are going to have some fancy gizmos, but everybody else
will still be using older tech.  Even if caseless ammo were to become REALLY
widespread, without the facilities to make more ammo, everyone will switch
back to cased powder ammo.  The only people who were left alive after the
bombs were dropped were all in rural areas, and if those people can't make
it,t hen it probably ain't available.

Of course, in HoE, the whole progress of technology has been skewed.  We don't
have any definite information on what technologies the manitous speeded up,
which ones they steered research away from, and how much catching up humans
could do after the manitous stopped helping.  Hopefully the Wasted West will
clear this up.

>  Which brings me to my next topic, modern weapons. Why are all the weapons
>  in HOE basically the same as current issue weapons? This is 100 years in
>  the future and all of the weapons are using 1950's technology! 

Military technology is developed by the lowest bidder.  Also, any technology
that relies on something new and makes all those warehouses full of ammunition
obsolete is going to be passed over for something that complies with the
military's current ammunition requirements.  Sure, flechette ammo is great,
but if you've got billions of boxes of 7.62 NATO rounds sitting around, the
cost of disposing of all that ammo and manufacturing new ammo would get
extremely prohibitive.  

And besides, the US can make up all the wacky new weapons it wants, but when
they go stomping around third world countries, they're going to get shot at
with AK-47 clones regardless of how many years have gone by.

>  By the way, for those of you who do not know, the purpose of the OICW
>  project is to develop a rifle capable of firing conventional 5.56mm
>  ammunition with a new breed of 20mm "smart" air-bursting grenades. A laser
>  range finder/thermal/close combat optic sight is incorporated into the
>  design to allow the firer to place a grenade with pin-point accuracy out to
>  1000 meters. The thermal portion of the sight's design allows a soldier to
>  see infra-red heat images of enemy personnel through dense fog and/or smoke
>  or at night. The close combat portion places a red dot in the middle of the
>  firer's field of view, allowing aiming and firing to be accomplished with
>  both eyes open.
>  
>  Certainly in 100 years standard issue weapons will be at least as advanced
>  as these prototypes...

Yes, but there is no longer any technology available to maintain such weapons.
What happens when your laser burns out, or water gets into your electronics
and turns the whole damned thing into a paperweight?  You'll go back to your
M-16.