Edmund Rowe
New member
Any new rifle design ought to be done by people who have lived in the grunt infantry's boots for a week. Since some smart movie makers have their actors go through a sort of military-style camp with patrols, weapons cleaning, basic tactics instruction, and generally learn how to live life in the field, this isn't as tough as it may seem. Dale Dye (a retired Marine) has been hired to run actors through this sort of thing for several of the better war movies such as Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, and many others.
At the very least, the think tanks ought to get their ideas reviewed by grunts or military weapons instructors before the idea gathers too much steam.
I just thought of something that might be a big problem with the OICW (whatever it's called now) in heavy brush/woods. If the 20mm grenade is proximity fused to detonate a couple meters over the intended target, what's going to keep it from blowing if it passes some other stuff like tree trunks close to it's path of travel? "I'm supposed to detonate when I get 2 meters from the target or anything else. Like next to this tree... NOW!"
Maybe it's fused sensitive enough such that "I'm supposed to detonate at 462 meters, +/- 5 meters." That adds a whole new factor for Murphy's Law. "Did I fly 462 meters yet? Can't tell. I'll think about it. THUNK. Now I'm embedded in the dirt somewhere. Hmmm....guess I'll never detonate."
Or even worse..."I'm supposed to detonate 2 meters from the nearest object. I'm supposed to be programmed what the range is. OK, got a bad signal...@#$% meters. Huh? Oh, well, I'll detonate the first time I'm 2 meters from something, which is right out of the muzzle. KA-BLAM!!!! Hope my gunner doesn't mind."
I think good training and a healthy ammo budget will make out soldiers more deadly than this thing. However, a bigger training budget won't win any fancy new contracts to some Beltway Bandit.
Edmund
At the very least, the think tanks ought to get their ideas reviewed by grunts or military weapons instructors before the idea gathers too much steam.
I just thought of something that might be a big problem with the OICW (whatever it's called now) in heavy brush/woods. If the 20mm grenade is proximity fused to detonate a couple meters over the intended target, what's going to keep it from blowing if it passes some other stuff like tree trunks close to it's path of travel? "I'm supposed to detonate when I get 2 meters from the target or anything else. Like next to this tree... NOW!"
Maybe it's fused sensitive enough such that "I'm supposed to detonate at 462 meters, +/- 5 meters." That adds a whole new factor for Murphy's Law. "Did I fly 462 meters yet? Can't tell. I'll think about it. THUNK. Now I'm embedded in the dirt somewhere. Hmmm....guess I'll never detonate."
Or even worse..."I'm supposed to detonate 2 meters from the nearest object. I'm supposed to be programmed what the range is. OK, got a bad signal...@#$% meters. Huh? Oh, well, I'll detonate the first time I'm 2 meters from something, which is right out of the muzzle. KA-BLAM!!!! Hope my gunner doesn't mind."
I think good training and a healthy ammo budget will make out soldiers more deadly than this thing. However, a bigger training budget won't win any fancy new contracts to some Beltway Bandit.
Edmund