Design
Because standard ammunition does not work well underwater, a common feature of underwater firearms is that they fire steel darts instead of standard bullets.
The barrels of underwater pistols are typically not rifled. Rather, the fired projectile maintains its ballistic trajectory underwater by hydrodynamic effects. The lack of rifling renders these weapons relatively inaccurate when fired out of water. While underwater rifles are more powerful than underwater pistols and more accurate in out-of-water applications, underwater pistols can be manipulated more easily underwater.
Among the many engineering challenges in designing underwater firearms is that of developing a weapon which can be effective in both underwater and out-of-water applications. The ASM-DT amphibious rifle is an early example of such a weapon. First fielded by the Russian special forces in 2000, the folding-stock ASM-DT amphibious rifle is capable of firing two kinds of ammunition, both of 5.45 mm caliber:
- 5.45×39mm rifle cartridge (7N6 enhanced penetration variant) for above water use; and
- 5.45x39mm rifle cartridge (MGTS variant) for underwater use. The projectile in this case is a steel dart, 120 mm in length (the two images in the middle are of this cartridge and its associated projectile).
Read more about this topic: Underwater Firearm
Famous quotes containing the word design:
“With wonderful art he grinds into paint for his picture all his moods and experiences, so that all his forces may be brought to the encounter. Apparently writing without a particular design or responsibility, setting down his soliloquies from time to time, taking advantage of all his humors, when at length the hour comes to declare himself, he puts down in plain English, without quotation marks, what he, Thomas Carlyle, is ready to defend in the face of the world.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The reason American cars don’t sell anymore is that they have forgotten how to design the American Dream. What does it matter if you buy a car today or six months from now, because cars are not beautiful. That’s why the American auto industry is in trouble: no design, no desire.”
—Karl Lagerfeld (b. 1938)
“Nowadays the host does not admit you to his hearth, but has got the mason to build one for yourself somewhere in his alley, and hospitality is the art of keeping you at the greatest distance. There is as much secrecy about the cooking as if he had a design to poison you.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)