Tech Level news: so, you can buy a Gauss Rifle now

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

An EM launcher also has no launch signature - flash or sound - from the firing.

And that is why, in the video clip of the thing being demonstrated at the range at a BUG match, McCollum asked whether anyone present had a pacemaker and advised the bloke who had to go to another bay.

[Willy]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Pretty much all mortars and grenade launchers are subsonic, as are several small arms calibres including 45ACP, so being subsonic isn't a problem in and of itself - but that just eliminates bullet crack. An EM launcher also has no launch signature - flash or sound - from the firing.

That´s right, but there is a big catch, since you need electromagentism and a lot of it to launch grenades or propell bullets, you can use that pulse to find the exact spot where the weapon stands. Even a smartphone or a walkie talkie can be measured and found with great precission, now think how big the impuls of a gauss weapon is! So you have a clear launch signature once you fire.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Willy

That´s right, but there is a big catch, since you need electromagentism and a lot of it to launch grenades or propell bullets, you can use that pulse to find the exact spot where the weapon stands. Even a smartphone or a walkie talkie can be measured and found with great precission, now think how big the impuls of a gauss weapon is! So you have a clear launch signature once you fire.

You already do. Counterbattery radar is accurate to less than a meter.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Willy

That´s right, but there is a big catch, since you need electromagentism and a lot of it to launch grenades or propell bullets, you can use that pulse to find the exact spot where the weapon stands. Even a smartphone or a walkie talkie can be measured and found with great precission, now think how big the impuls of a gauss weapon is! So you have a clear launch signature once you fire.

A 'clear launch signature' that can only be detected by specialized electronic sensors that aren't commonly used in modern ground combat, as opposed to a launch signature that can be detected by the primary senses of any soldier.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

A 'clear launch signature' that can only be detected by specialized electronic sensors that aren't commonly used in modern ground combat, as opposed to a launch signature that can be detected by the primary senses of any soldier.

A battlefield with EM weapons probably quickly adds MAD capabilities to counterbattery systems...

[Willy]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

You already do. Counterbattery radar is accurate to less than a meter.

Yes but it´s a active measure, so you can track and measure the counterradar too.

By the way it´s far less than a meter and in realtime from what I heard. Which is more than you need, because the killzone of a 150 mm artillery or 120 mm mortars and such counterartillery, are way larger than the measuring tolerance of counterradar.

Thanks to the active pulse of a Gauss weapon, you can triangulate the position complete passive. Against the high EM burst of a firing gauss weapon every battlefield radar has a very low profile.

You may try to mask or shield the weapon, but such a trick would add a lot to the weight and costs,not to mention the bulk of it, and it´s hard to imagine that you can mask it completely, not to mention the problem with the cooling system, because repeated shots of gauss weapons have a very high internal heat build up.

[sir_pudding]

Couterbattery fires are 10 digit grid missions, at least the way I did them...

[weby]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

All other things being equal yes. A great deal of the noise of chemically powered slugthrowers comes from the propellent gases. Eliminate the gasses you eliminate the noise that comes from them.

That is why the "silent" weapons like spigot mortars exist, to contain that gas inside so it does not escape out ti make noise.

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Couterbattery fires are 10 digit grid missions, at least the way I did them...

Can you translate that to non-military?

[Verjigorm]

Originally Posted by Þorkell

Can you translate that to non-military?

If I'm not mistaken, it's referring to a set of co-ordinates that have a precision of 1m, compared to 8 grid(10m) and 6 grid(100m). Puddin' is basically talking about putting a bomb(mortar projectile) right in the lap of the enemy artillery, rather than close enough to scare them. Not gonna be a fun time for them.