British Army Developing Force Field
The British military is working on a real, honest-to-gosh force field.
Last week the Telegraph reported that British military scientists are working on a Star Trek-style force field to protect armored vehicles out in the field. This invisible barrier uses pulses of electrical energy to repel incoming ammunition-- shrapnel, rockets, and more-- that might damage the vehicle. But rather than creating one huge bubble that encompasses the vehicle, the technology will be embedded within the armor itself, providing extra support.
According to researchers at the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), the embedded cloth-like, flexible material is called supercapacitors, and will rapidly dump energy onto the metal plating outside the vehicle. This process will produce a strong electromagnetic field, a momentary force field of sorts, that is capable of repelling incoming ammunition.
The drawback is that the shield only lasts for a fraction of a second, forcing soldiers to time the force field's activation with the impact of a rocket or grenade. However the supercapacitors can recharge rather quickly, reducing shield downtime. There's also an added benefit: the "electric armor" could eventually decrease the overall weight of current tanks and other military vehicles.
Professor Bryn James, head of DSTL's armor and protection science and technology center, said that the force field requires a surprisingly small amount of electrical power. This effort is part of the Ministry of Defense's overall plan to make armored vehicles faster and more maneuverable by reducing the weight of armored vehicles by 70-percent over the next decade.
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isn't forcefield one word?
Really? Nothing better to do?
Voyager? Really?
If that burst of "force field" is strong enough to repel bullets, the wearer will probably be killed by the force field anyway.
Ya, that's definitely a deal breaker. So now the military has to train someone with mad reflexes to press a button everytime a bullet is close enough?
A manually controlled unit special ability? What is this, a bad RTS?
Sound's cool to me. go go more cool shiiiiiiiiii t
This IS the armor setting from the crysis suit. Awesome
This also reminds me of the force fields in renegade legion. Just flicker it on and off really fast, forever.
That's pretty much identical to the defence system on vehicles in BF2142! They might want to increase the duration slightly before putting it out there though, removing all your armour and using this instead is a bit of a gamble..
I wonder who will be the first to say "shields up"
This won't work. If you've ever watched mythbusters, you've probably seen the episode about the James Bond watch. The watch failed miserably, but they also tried REALLY big magnets, and they also failed to change the bullet's path more than a little bit.
Ya, that's definitely a deal breaker. So now the military has to train someone with mad reflexes to press a button everytime a bullet is close enough?
Thats no biggie.. they just have to log on to Bad Company 2 and they had their pick of thousands..
Just hook up the controls to a mouse n' keyboard and we're set to go!
A manually controlled unit special ability? What is this, a bad RTS?
It will probably be combined with a quick sensor down the road. But, I doubt the tech will work in the first place.
This also reminds me of the force fields in renegade legion. Just flicker it on and off really fast, forever.
Great, now we'll have to start giving purple hearts for RSI. "Get us out of here, my wrist is cramping!"
Ya, that's definitely a deal breaker. So now the military has to train someone with mad reflexes to press a button everytime a bullet is close enough?
They already have detectors that can track incoming ordnance, all they have to do is connect it to the force field and bingo.
So with it generating a "EM" field wouldn't it only effect things that would react to magnets? Projectiles are generally not made of Ferris materials. I know they are all smarter then me but that is my thoughts.
This won't work. If you've ever watched mythbusters, you've probably seen the episode about the James Bond watch. The watch failed miserably, but they also tried REALLY big magnets, and they also failed to change the bullet's path more than a little bit.
I love Mythbusters as much as anyone else, but their tests can hardly be considered scientific experiments. It's 5 people that are not scientists (they are engineers) trying to prove and disprove scientific theories. It's hit and miss.
I wonder who will be the first to say "shields up"
If it doesn't work, we may never know.
Thats no biggie.. they just have to log on to Bad Company 2 and they had their pick of thousands..Just hook up the controls to a mouse n' keyboard and we're set to go!
Heh...we knew all those years of video games growing up would pay off someday.
It's interesting though. It takes a small amount of power, but only lasts a few seconds. So, why not add more capacitors and cycle through them, basically like a rotating...pulse...field generator...or something.
This won't work. If you've ever watched mythbusters, you've probably seen the episode about the James Bond watch. The watch failed miserably, but they also tried REALLY big magnets, and they also failed to change the bullet's path more than a little bit.
Magnets will not affect bullets as they are non magnetic, this field will be electromagnetic and dynamic which will induce eddy currents in anything conductive thereby making them susceptible to strong magnetic fields. Fields a lot stronger than shop bought magnets.
I wonder who will be the first to say "shields up"
It they're too slow, they may get off the "SHI" but you may as well end it for them with a "T."
I could see them developing sensors that will be able to tell in milliseconds if an object is approaching and calculate when the field would need to be turned on.
Of course what the enemy could do to counter act that is to develope a launcher that fires a much smaller projectile before the larger one with just enough time for the field to trip on and go back off and time it right when the shield goes into the off cycle.
As for if the shield even works in the first place, I would have to see it to believe it.
forcing the soldiers to time the force field's activation... right... that's not good. Hopefully the next one will just flicker itself on and off automatically since its recharge is quick.
Seems unsafe and generally retarded. This kind of tech won't stop projectiles, just alter their direction by pi/2. So itstead of the tanks getting hit by bullets, all of the foot soldiers standing around it will take the hits. Genius.
Ya, that's definitely a deal breaker. So now the military has to train someone with mad reflexes to press a button everytime a bullet is close enough?
Sounds just like what hard core gamers are made for.
two words (or three depending on how you look at it) :
non-ferrous bullets
Simultaneous Bombardment
The Enterprise from that crappy tv show "Enterprise", with the guy from Quantum Leap, had a similar shield... "POLARIZE THE HULL PLATING." That sounds almost exactly like what they are doing here... So why show Voyager??? Show that crappy Enterprise instead!
Tip: Counter with the science vessel's EMP shockwave, and finish off with a Yamato gun.
Seems unsafe and generally retarded. This kind of tech won't stop projectiles, just alter their direction by pi/2. So itstead of the tanks getting hit by bullets, all of the foot soldiers standing around it will take the hits. Genius.
Cost of tank > cost of soldier. I'm sure thats already in the equation.
To even consider that this device would be manually operated by a human is just silly, I'm not sure why the article would even suggest that the tank crew has control over the shield.
The shield would be part of a sensory system designed to detect incoming projectiles which would then trigger the pulse to deflect / destroy the projectile. These types of sensors exist already, its nothing new.