Actually, and no offence is intended here, very few
people on this list are familiar with the number of exotic
"personal weaponry" projects that the US military is currently
toying with.

         One of the simplest was designed - in part - by
Jerry Pournelle. (yes, THAT Pournelle, the famous author).
It amounts to a small, hollow cored, cylinder of steel lined
with solid rocket fuel that's self-igniting once it hits
a certain speed.

         That's right.. a _RAMJET_ engine, no larger than
your thumb. It's not launched, it's fired like an ordinary
bullet, in the same way. Good old fashioned gunpowder. This
micro-ramjet is inserted into a brass cartridge just like a
standard lead bullet, and is fired from a (mostly) standard
firearm. At short range, it's just a bullet, and does the
same damage. Once it self ignites, however, it picks up even
more speed and has a much greater impact with very little
recoil for the person firing it. Think of an elephant rifle
with the recoil of a .22 rimfire. Nasty.

         On top of that, there's a project in the works to
develop a self-guided bullet, a project straight out of
Tom Selleck's movie, "Runaway". Aim the pistol at the target,
let the micro-seeker head take an infra-red image of the
selected target, then fire and watch the fun while the
projectile _chases_ the target.

         I could go on, but I risk moving off topic. My
point is this.. most of these weapons are research only,
because we have no real urgent NEED for them at the moment.
However, an actual invasion of meta-beings, aliens, or
demonic creatures _WOULD_ result in the rapid movement of
such projects from the backburners of military research to
a status of "GET THEM BUILT NOW, IDIOTS!"

         If anyone is interested in this sort of subject for
their fanfics, and needs help with the research, I'd be
happy to put the information I have at their disposal, much
as I have for Gary Kleppe.

         (So where did you _think_ he got the information on
AK-47's and other typical mercenary weapons, eh? *grin*)

         Ed Becerra

         "Dreamers may die, but the Dream is eternal..."



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