German Unicorn Space Gun Explained (HK G11)

phanto's picture

Kraut Space Magic: the H&K G11

I forgot to not over-engineer the crap out of the working internals

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Dhagon's picture

Speak of the Devil, I was just explaining about caseless ammo and the G11 to my dad yesterday, he didn't believe me when I told him they tried it in the 60s-80s and that it went nowhere. Jesus Christ the engineering on the action looks like a European nightmare. I still think smaller scale railguns are probably the future as far as weaponry goes due to international investment and research.

 

Real Gunbucket Scale, Fake Design - Page 22 - Shipbucket
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phanto's picture

Railgun technology is far from being mature enough to be considered anytime soon in portable small arms form. It isn't even in its embryonic state yet for that.

 

The most likely next step, should a military ever pull the trigger on a transition to a different system (pun intended) is most likely to be plastic cased ammunition. It is the technology that is the most mature and most likely to bring enough improvement over conventional systems to have a chance to be adopted.

 

Look up the LSAT and NGSW programs. However be aware that such programs are definitely not a guarantee by any means. Programs like these that end up no where have been a dime a dozen. But should NGSW turn out to produce a rifle that is light enough and has enough firepower to replace both the rifle and LMGs, this will be a serious contender. The ability to reduce the complexity of the logistical system with a single weapon system that can replace several has always given the big wigs up top a raging boner. Although it rarely ultimately resulted in equipment that properly filled all the gaps it had to fill (jack of all trades, master of none). But that's beside the point.

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Dhagon's picture

Definitely not small arms, nowhere near that at all(probably not for 50-100 years before prototypes, if that) but as far as being used for larger scale platforms, I still think railguns are the future, or directed energy weapons. Small arms speculation, while exciting in theory, will probably still result in most major militaries seeking the most cost effective method ie. conventional ammunition. It's really ironic that since the invention of smokeless powder and boat-tailed bullets, there haven't really been many leaps and bounds in conventional ballistics, firearm designs sure, but the concept remains the same.

 

Those third-arm prototypes and advanced optics programs seem interesting, no doubt the cost will decrease as time goes by. Either way, exciting shit.

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phanto's picture

The closest we've seen for a leap and bound in small arms in terms of ballistic improvement is the flechette rounds. (relatively) light recoil, absurd velocity and ballistic coefficient resulting insanely flat trajectories and short travel times with the bonus of exceptional armor penetration. But as you said, money is the problem. Too much investment is required for the transition. And ultimately the military looks for "good enough to do the job", not the best. And regular bullets are good enough.

 

The only way we will see something like small arms firing flechette rounds appear on the battlefield is if there is a need for them. Something like the development and widespread use of advanced body armor that covers most of the soldier's body and that defeats conventional small arm projectiles. Then the need for it would be strong enough to justify the cost of transition.

 

Funnily enough the concept of (kind of) caseless ammunition and flechette rounds is already used in tanks today as the need for better armor penetration is very real in that context.

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Nakey's picture
Beta Tester

it really is the swiss watch of rifles.

 

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