Gauss weapons ...

	From Adrian Hurt :-
>  I still think that either the gauss weapons fire high velocity, i.e.
>  supersonic  rounds, in which case they aren't silent except in vacuum
>  or near vacuum; or they are silent, therefore subsonic,

	I think I'll beg to disagree with the intention of this statement.
	The basis of Gauss guns being silent is that they don't use chemical
	explosion to launch the missile, they accelerate it over an immense
	magnetic potential energy difference (or something like that ...)
	This means that the *mechanism* of the launch is silent. It also
	means that many varied missile types can be launched - delicate
	ones such solid chemical slivers (remember the bit on non-lethal
	weapons ...?) that wouldn't withstand the effects of an explosion
	to launch them.
	As for the rounds' speed affecting the amount of noise generated,
	yes, I can see the argument about supersonic speeds. You probably
	would hear the MACH barrier pressure wave as it passed you, but
	your target wouldn't ... until it was too late.
	If you want to use the gauss weapon as a sniper tool, it's important
	that your position isn't given away (hence use subsonic speeds),
	but presumably it isn't important whether or not they know the target
	has been hit (they will presumably find out sooner or later ... :-)
	so why not use a variant of smart round that explodes on impact and
	gives the final `shove' to the front portion of the round that has
	to do the hard part of penetrating armour ... ?

	Alternatively, do away with hand-to-hand combat and accelerate
	an asteroid straight onto the battle-ground. Nothing like a
	nice 300-km wide crater to encourage the other side to surrender!
	(Apologies - got a bit carried away there ... sorry ! :-}
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