The technology, called Magneto Hydrodynamic Explosive Munition or MAHEM, may sound fictional and imaginative, but if it existed, it would be a lethal weapon in the real world.
READ ALSO – Learn to Read Minds through Fiction Stories
And it is said that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) or the United States military research and development agency wants one for the Uncle Sam’s Army squad and is trying to make it happen!
For information, today’s advanced weapons technology known as self-forging penetrators (SFPs) or automatic forging penetrators, are produced by conventional chemical explosions directed at a specially shaped metal layer.
When the device is turned off, the explosion causes the metallic coating to take on a new shape, suitable for penetrating deep into medium armored vehicles such as battleships and tanks pushed forward at high speed. This technology has been around since the second World War.
If it were possible to use a powerful electromagnet to accelerate the molten metal beam on the bullet, it could overcome the drawbacks of SFPs and achieve even higher velocities and better targeting.
DARPA also hopes to provide American troops with light active self-defense for vehicles (a potential defeat mechanism for kinetic energy rounds), counter armor (passive, reactive, and active), mine countermeasures, and anti-ship to the last layer of defense for cruise missiles.”
In the novel Earthlight, Arthur C. Clarke uses his ideas in a battle between a stationary facility on the Moon and several invading starships.
Science fiction reader would certainly be ‘excited’ – or perhaps frightened to see the DARPA plan come to fruition – which has been going on for more than half a century to date.
(wbs)
–
