Share
Shoulder Laser

Shoulder Laser
Image from Loopquanta

Shoulder mounted laser weapon, designed to acquire targets independently while still remaining under the user's control.

The most common models come with a shoulder harness and belt powerpack, and has telescopic aiming systems operated by the user via a head-up display or direct neural interface. Most models have a limited autonomy, capable of spotting targets over a wide range of angles. Some shoulder lasers are semisentient, and a few are fully sophont, offering tactical advice to the user whether e wants it or not.

A shoulder laser (or a pair) may be used in combination with other weapons, both handheld and body-mounted, allowing a single user to become a walking weapons platform. Of course, the more weapons a single user deploys, the more reliant e is on autonomous systems and augmented attention software.


Shoulderlaser 2
Image from Loopquanta

 
Related Articles
  • Autocannon, Cannon
  • Automatic Rifle
  • Hand-held Lasers
  • Melee/Close Combat Weapons
  • Smart Weapons - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, from Anders Sandberg's Big Ideas Grand Vision
    Weapons with have varying amounts of intelligence in them (rarely more than turingrade). The simplest Smart Weapons link to a control-command subturing and give the owner the ability to shift between types of ammo, see through the aimpoint camera etc. This kind of connection is necessary for use in teamware, and is practically standard among even the simplest baselines. The scramjet bullets of the sabot pistols of Trillicon have built in cameras and some limited steering capabilities. Zetatech's Marksman Gun is equipped with a n expert system that can act as a point defence or drone if placed on a tripod or suitable vehicle (although the price tag deters most people).
 
Appears in Topics
 
Development Notes
Text by Steve Bowers
Initially published on 14 September 2009.

 
 
>