The U.S. military may soon have a new weapon to put into the hands of Army troops, and it's one that G.I. Joe fans would clearly love to have in their arsenal as well.
It's an electric ray gun called the "Burke Pulser," after developer James E. Burke, an Army armament research electronics engineer. The weapon, currently in development, is attached to an Army M4 carbine and boasts a piezoelectric generator and antennas for blasting big, powerful blasts of electricity.
The defense weapon attachment, which snaps onto the M4 as easily as an Army flash suppressor, is aimed at knocking out the electric circuits of IEDs and roadside bombs.
Not only is it a super-cool weapon that any G.I. Joe collector would love to have for their military doll collection, it's a bargain in terms of cost for the U.S. defense organization given the price tag of under $1,000.
The electric ray gun, which is reportedly in testing, could go a long way to protecting U.S. troops in overseas combat and war zones, especially in the Middle East where roadside bombs and booby traps have resulted in the largest number of troops losing limbs of any battle the U.S. has been involved in.
The design strategy, according to creator Burke, is one of efficiency and providing a weapon that doesn't add to the load a soldier already carries into combat.
Army personnel "already carry rifles. Why not use something that every soldier already carries," Burke stated in a media report. Given the electricity levels blasted from the Pulser, Burke built in a shield to protect Army personnel.
While more than a bit on the sci-fi side, the Burke Pulser is not the Army's first-ever electric gun. One prototype in recent years was a Nerf gun built of aluminum for shooting 20,000 electric volts. The U.S. military is constantly researching, developing and investigating potential new weapons with energy and lasers being one of the most recent interesting options. Those, however, aren't ones Army guys like G.I. Joe can just whip out and put in play.
"Most of these are vehicle-towed and require a huge power system," Burke said. He declined to provide deeper weapon specifics, such as how testing is going and the range of the Burke Pulser, but he did say it is looking "very promising."
