British military developing deflector fields

[bryce]

British military developing deflector shields

http://io9.com/5499652/british-military-developing-force-fields

It looks like another piece of Star Trek technology is just around the corner. The British military's top scientists are using supercapacitors to create deflector shields for tanks.

Researchers at the British military's Defense Science and Technology Laboratory want to use supercharged electromagnetic fields to repulse attacks on tanks and other combat vehicles. Supercapacitors built into the armor of these vehicles can store huge amounts of energy, which would then be deployed when an incoming threat is detected.

The field would theoretically be powerful enough to deflect pretty much anything up to small missiles, and the supercapacitors would be able to quickly recharge to prevent a subsequent attack. CONT

Original article:

Star Trek-style force-field armour being developed by military scientists

 

[clint g]

That'll be pretty amazing if they can get it to work

 

[bryce]

Yeah, combine that with something called Active-Protection Systems:

And smart materials that self repair, and this new invisibility technology just announced:

http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?p=3941827#post3941827

And you could have a pretty invincible fighting machine...(although it would still be susceptible to tactical nukes and probably EMP & microwave weapons...)

 

[ProtoAvatar]

There's still the problem of the slow blade passing through the shield, though.

 

[John Picard]

Re: British military developing deflector shields

http://io9.com/5499652/british-military-developing-force-fields

It looks like another piece of Star Trek technology is just around the corner. The British military's top scientists are using supercapacitors to create deflector shields for tanks.

Researchers at the British military's Defense Science and Technology Laboratory want to use supercharged electromagnetic fields to repulse attacks on tanks and other combat vehicles. Supercapacitors built into the armor of these vehicles can store huge amounts of energy, which would then be deployed when an incoming threat is detected.

The field would theoretically be powerful enough to deflect pretty much anything up to small missiles, and the supercapacitors would be able to quickly recharge to prevent a subsequent attack. CONT

Original article:

Star Trek-style force-field armour being developed by military scientists

Kind of old news as I believe it was a few years ago that the British developed a "deflector shield" that could stop a small projectile from piercing a tank's outer armor.

 

[Lindley]

Re: British military developing deflector shields

No, that development (mentioned in the article) simply evaporates the molten metal charge which would normally eat through the armor. This one is supposed to actually deflect the projectile using magnetic fields or something.

 

[Zachary Smith]

Re: British military developing deflector shields

I wonder how it would fare against 1.21 gigawatt laser cannon.

 

[clint g]

There's still the problem of the slow blade passing through the shield, though.

Nerd

 

[John Picard]

Re: British military developing deflector shields

No, that development (mentioned in the article) simply evaporates the molten metal charge which would normally eat through the armor. This one is supposed to actually deflect the projectile using magnetic fields or something.

That's right. My brain was fuzzy on it and I did remember something about molten material.

Imagine a group of tanks, charging across a field, side by side, when the opposition fires a missile. One tank deflects it off to the side and then gets deflected by another tank

Arrange the tanks properly and the missile would resemble a pinball!

 

[Mr. Adventure]

They will have to be dilligent to prevent the terrorists from jacking in to the soldier's HUDs and stealing the shield frequencies.

 

[Snaploud]

Re: British military developing deflector shields

No, that development (mentioned in the article) simply evaporates the molten metal charge which would normally eat through the armor. This one is supposed to actually deflect the projectile using magnetic fields or something.

That reminds me of that Batman: Gotham Knight short story in which Batman builds a Batsuit that deflects bullets. He ultimately gave up on the technology due to an inability to properly control where bullets would be deflected. I wonder if the tank would have similar problems. We don't want missiles to bounce off our tanks just to hit some of our other vehicles.

 

[Lindley]

Re: British military developing deflector shields

The article says they won't use it on bullets, just RPGs and similar threats. As far as aiming goes....dunno.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

I wouldn't be surprised if we were developing something of this nature either

 

[ProtoAvatar]

There's still the problem of the slow blade passing through the shield, though.

Nerd

And proud of it!

 

[tharpdevenport]

Re: British military developing deflector shields

I wonder how it would fare against 1.21 gigawatt laser cannon.

Or a bomb powerful enough to simply blow a crater into the ground which the tank would fall into. Lot of good the shields will do then...

 

[publiusr]

This reminds me a bit of the NX-01's defenses. The M2P2 mini magnetosphere is a bit more what I had in mind.

 

[STR]

Re: British military developing deflector shields

I wonder how it would fare against 1.21 gigawatt laser cannon.

Perfectly fine, except the tank would end up in 1955.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

So exactly how does this work? Is it by pulsed linear induction that deflects metallic objects similar to the principle used in a coil gun? I can't see electrostatic repulsion working unless the incoming object happens to have a charge.

 

[John Picard]

So exactly how does this work? Is it by pulsed linear induction that deflects metallic objects similar to the principle used in a coil gun? I can't see electrostatic repulsion working unless the incoming object happens to have a charge.

More like smoke and mirrors

 

[ProtoAvatar]

So exactly how does this work? Is it by pulsed linear induction that deflects metallic objects similar to the principle used in a coil gun? I can't see electrostatic repulsion working unless the incoming object happens to have a charge.

Maxwell's equations applied:

What is generated is an incresing magnetic flux. This increasing magnetic flux generates in every incoimg object an electric current whose associated magnetic field has an opposed polarity. The two magnetic fields will repel eachother.

Of course, one can substantially increase the magnetic flux only for a short period. Hence the need to time the incoming projectile and the activation of the field precisely.