Life imitates science fiction. As usual.

[mdlbear]

Military: DARPA Developing Weapon Inspired by Arthur C. Clarke Idea From 1955

Those of you who are familiar with Arthur C. Clarke's 1955 novel Earthlight may recognize a new weapon from DARPA dubbed the Magneto Hydrodynamic Explosive Munition (MAHEM). In the novel, a commander unleashes "The Stiletto"—a weapon consisting of a jet of molten metal hurled through space by an electro-magnet. The MAHEM concept works in much the same way, using a magnetic field to propel a chunk of molten metal that will morph into an aerodynamic slug in flight.

(Original article in New Scientist Technology Blog. Also noted in Engadget)

Comments

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

Back when I designed exotic weapons for the military, I had a theory about why each country worked on different types of EM launcher. The US all read Heinlein, so built coil guns, the French read Verne, so they specialised in light gas guns, and the UK and Australia read Clarke, so they worked on rail guns...

[mdlbear]

Heh. Sounds about right.

Similar to the observation that a team of N people will design a program with N major modules...