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Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun _ New type of armor for riggers ...

Posted by: Vlad the Bad Jun 12 2004, 06:43 PM

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/08/19/boffins_invent_grenade_vaporising_electric/ Boffins invent grenade vaporising ‘electric force field’.

Posted by: Cray74 Jun 12 2004, 09:58 PM

QUOTE (Vlad the Bad)

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/08/19/boffins_invent_grenade_vaporising_electric/ Boffins invent grenade vaporising ‘electric force field’.

It's been in the news a while. See my links, below. GURPS has already incorporated it into their Vehicle rules expansions.

"Force field" is an incredibly misleading term for this system, though. Basically, the penetrator has to get between two electrical conductor sheets in the armor. When it does, a lot of electrical current is pumped through it, and it gets treated like a fuse: it pops and blows apart. The spattered chunks do not have nearly the penetration capability of a coherent shaped charge jet.

http://www.rense.com/general28/frce.htm

http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,54641,00.html

And...there it is, I first posted home rules for it in Battletech in http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&threadm=5dcb47db.0208260431.29a8b98b%40posting.google.com&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fq%3D%2522electric%2Barmor%2522%2Bgroup:rec.games.mecha%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26group%3Drec.games.mecha%26safe%3Doff%26selm%3D5dcb47db.0208260431.29a8b98b%2540posting.google.com%26rnum%3D1, when I first stumbled over it.

Posted by: John Campbell Jun 12 2004, 10:46 PM

"Force field" is nothing like accurate. It's just a variant on reactive armor.

Posted by: Cray74 Jun 12 2004, 11:25 PM

QUOTE (John Campbell)

"Force field" is nothing like accurate. It's just a variant on reactive armor.

How do you figure this resembles reactive armor?

Posted by: John Campbell Jun 13 2004, 12:32 AM

It's the same basic principle, just a different technique... it works by disrupting the shaped charge's penetrating jet the same way conventional reactive armor does; it just uses an electrical arc to do it instead of an explosion.

Posted by: Cray74 Jun 13 2004, 04:57 AM

QUOTE (John Campbell)

Reactive armor uses two metal plates to disrupt the shaped charge's jet (and, in the case of "heavy" reactive armor, they can disrupt long rod penetrators, too). The explosive is the deployment system for the plates.

http://armor.kiev.ua/fofanov/Tanks/EQP/era.html

In this "electric" armor, the solid armor plates do not seem to contribute in the same fashion as in reactive armor. Rather, it's primarily the work of the electricity. The net effect is certainly much the same: disintegration of the jet.

I guess it's a matter of semantics/nitpicking. Depending on how broad your definitions are, Whipple Shields on spacecraft and Chobham armor also behave similarly to reactive armor: they break up penetrators, rather than letting them remain coherent.

Posted by: Arethusa Jun 13 2004, 06:03 AM

I think he's looking at the similarity more in terms of active penetrator disruption. Whipple shields and chobham armor may be layered, but they're still passive.

[edit]

Anyone know how this stuff fares against tandem/duplex warhead projectiles?

Posted by: Cray74 Jun 13 2004, 12:13 PM

QUOTE (Arethusa)

Anyone know how this stuff fares against tandem/duplex warhead projectiles?

Nope, no idea.

Posted by: Vlad the Bad Jun 13 2004, 06:13 PM

Yeah, the title was misleading, but not totally