Think back to playing GoldenEye 007 on Nintendo 64.
What a great game right?
In each mission you start out with Bond’s iconic Walther PPK with a silencer on it.
The silencer suppresses the sound of the gun so that you can remain in stealth mode.
You can shoot enemies who have no idea where you are because your gun is practically silent.
The only sound the silenced Walther PPK makes is a slight thwip.
Unfortunately, real life is not like video games.
Silencers in the real world are slightly louder than James Bond’s gun in the movies and
video games.
Let’s imagine a scenario that requires stealth and precision.
It is a highly sensitive mission to eliminate a terrorist cell.
A special forces squad is sent into an enemy base to eliminate a key target.
The squad needs to infiltrate the base and deal with the threat as quietly as possible.
Silence is key.
The squad wants to reduce the risk of the terrorists calling for reinforcements.
The only way to do this is using silenced weapons.
The special forces team enters the enemy base using night vision goggles to make their way
in the dark.
Their pistols and rifles are equipped with silencers.
As they eliminate each enemy the sound of their weapons is so quiet that it sounds like
a gentle breeze.
Enemies who are in the next building cannot hear the soldiers coming until it is too late.
An enemy transport truck full of troops appears on the horizon.
It must be stopped.
Luckily a second squad with a .50 caliber heavy machine gun is mounted on the roof of
a nearby building.
They open up and unleash a barrage of bullets on the enemy truck.
Usually the heavy machine gun would create enough sound to wake the dead, but this gun
has been equipped with a silencer.
The enemies in the transport are mowed down and will cause no problems to the mission.
The reduction of sound from the silencer ensures that the enemies in the base have no idea
that their comrades have been taken out.
Then suddenly an enemy tank starts heading towards the base the special forces squad
is located in.
Luckily the military planned for this.
On a hill overlooking the area sits an artillery cannon.
It is equipped with a newly invented artillery silencer.
The cannon fires its explosive shells at the tank.
It is a direct hit.
The tank explodes in flames and enemy soldiers rush towards the tank and away from the special
forces squad in the base.
The enemy can’t figure out where the artillery is located because the silencer has reduced
the sound and muzzle flash of the cannon.
The enemy is neutralized.
The mission is a success.
The soldiers head back to base.
There were no casualties because of the stealthiness of the mission.
The target was eliminated and no enemy reinforcements were called.
Silencers ensured the mission was carried out smoothly.
They allowed the soldiers to work without the enemy knowing that they were even there.
Is this scenario possible?
Could all of the weapons in this mission be equipped with silencers?
The answer is yes.
Let’s explore how the military is using silencers and how they work.
There are numerous different manufacturers of silencers, but all follow the same principle.
A silencer must contain and slowly release the gas and pressure of a fired bullet.
Before we can discuss how the silencer itself actually works, we need to talk about science.
Stay with us, this will be relatively painless.
The reason that a gun makes such a loud noise when fired is because of the releasing of
high pressure gas that has built up behind a bullet.
This gas is released from the narrow barrel of the gun into the wide open air in an instant.
Think of it like a bottle of champagne.
The bottle is pressurized and the cork is keeping all of the pressure in the bottle.
When the cork is pulled off, the air pressure inside the bottle is instantly released creating
ripples in the air, which we hear as a “pop.”
The same thing happens when a bullet leaves the barrel of a gun.
In order to shoot a bullet, a huge amount of force is needed.
This force is generated by the ignition of gunpowder which causes an enormous pressure
build up behind the bullet.
To release the pressure the bullet is propelled out of the gun.
A gun uses around 3,000 pounds per square inch of pressure to shoot a bullet.
All of the pressure is released into the air after the bullet is ejected from the barrel
causing waves that we hear as sound to shoot out in all directions.
At the most basic level the silencer takes all of the pressure behind the bullet and
allows it to expand in a contained environment.
If the pressure is allowed to expand, but kept within the silencer, then the sound waves
that would be created are also contained.
Alright the science part is over, let’s talk about the different components of a silencer.
A silencer is typically screwed onto the barrel of a gun and has a relatively large volume
compared to the barrel.
It is usually around 20 or 30 times larger than the barrel of the gun itself.
This allows the pressurized gas behind the bullet to expand, but does not allow it to
propagate away from the gun in the form of sound waves.
The pressure is still there and does get released, but it is only about 60 psi after passing
through the silencer.
This creates a much quieter gun shot because less intense sound waves are created.
There is still a sound from the smaller pressure being released, but it is nowhere near as
loud as a gun without a silencer.
It would be impossible to silence a gun completely because the silencer would have to be massive.
For this to happen the silencer would have to be large enough to allow the gas to be
depressurized completely before entering the air.
It would be like having a silencer the size of a refrigerator on the end of your gun.
The laws of physics will never allow a gun to be completely silent because of the sonic
boom from the bullet.
Since a bullet moves faster than the speed of sound it creates a sonic boom.
It is the same principle as when fighter jets break the sound barrier.
This means that because of the laws of physics, a sonic boom will occur once the bullet passes
Mach 1.
There is no way to stop the sonic boom of a bullet unless you can break the laws of
physics.
We do not recommend doing this, as it could create a singularity and destroy the planet.
Silencers are made of strong metal that can withstand high pressures and heat.
The silencer works in two steps.
When the gun is fired the bullet passes through the barrel and silencer.
In step one the silencer captures the gas from the explosion of gunpowder and displaces
the gas into the larger volume of the silencer.
This reduces pressure.
The silencer then restricts the flow of the gas out of the muzzle, so the pressurized
gas is released slowly and with minimal noise.
Silencers work great for pistols, like James Bond’s Walther PPK, and rifles.
But what about heavy machine guns?
The Navy is currently looking into silencers for their M2A1 heavy machine gun.
The M2 line of guns, also known as “Ma Deuce,” have been used in various stages of combat
since the 1930’s.
They are used as an aerial support weapon on aircrafts, defense guns on naval vessels,
and mounted heavy machine guns for infantry.
Needless to say the M2A1 is a versatile and powerful weapon.
If the M2A1 could be silenced it could be used for a variety of new missions.
Since it fires .50 caliber rounds the gun makes a lot of noise.
The large bullets require huge amounts of pressure to be fired.
The more pressure, the louder the sound waves are that leave the barrel.
The military wants a silencer that can lower the decibel level and muzzle flash of the
M2A1.
However, they have made it clear that the silencer can not reduce the cyclic rate of
the gun, which is around 450 to 600 rounds per minute.
As of right now the military is prototyping different silencers to equip on their heavy
machine guns, but they have not chosen one as of yet.
One of the silencers that the military has been testing is created by Delta P Design.
They made a .50 caliber silencer using a 3D printing method.
This could be beneficial for the military, because if a base needs more silencers all
they need to do is print them using a 3D printer.
Printing the silencers rather than putting in an order and waiting for them to be shipped
halfway around the world would be much more efficient.
This seems futuristic, but we have the technology to do it right now.
The Marines have been interested in using more silencers in past years.
As the technology has become better and more cost effective it is being considered for
missions.
In 2017 a squad of marines made history by being the first company to be equipped entirely
with silenced small arms and machine guns.
The U.S. Army has also been experimenting with silencers, except theirs are much larger.
They have been prototyping silencers for both their 105 mm and 120 mm artillery guns.
The artillery itself is tested around the Chesapeake Bay.
Nearby communities have been negatively affected by the loud noises these artillery guns make
when fired.
So the Army decided to incorporate silencers into its artillery testing for two reasons.
The first reason is to reduce the noise of the cannons to provide a tactical advantage.
The second reason is to reduce the noise of the cannons to cause less disruptions for
the Chesapeake Bay residents.
The silencers are gigantic (use photo: https://i.insider.com/595278dad084cc78008b5c0a?width=700&format=jpeg&auto=webp Credit: Business Insider).
They are lifted into position using steel scaffolding and tilted to the correct elevation.
The silencer itself is made out of reinforced steel to withstand the incredible pressure
and superheated gasses released by the cannon.
It does not actually attach to the barrel like with a pistol, because during recoil
it could harm the turret.
This could have disastrous consequences, such as the shell impacting the side of the barrel
and exploding before it is ejected.
There have been leaked documents showing military interest in a silencer patent for tanks.
This silencer would attach to the muzzle of the tank, so the vehicle could stay mobile.
The holes on both artillery and tank suppressors must be kept as small as possible to reduce
the decibel level of the shot.
The total cost of the current artillery silencer is around $100,000.
The military sees this high cost as acceptable, since the artillery silencer reduces the noise
of a fired shell by as much as 20 decibels.
This is the difference between a running blender and listening to your television at a normal
volume.
Silencers are used by the military to suppress the sound waves of bullets when fired.
This can be vital to maintain stealth during a mission.
Silencers also keep tactical positions of soldiers and artillery hidden by reducing
muzzle flash.
Although silencers aren’t as quiet as video games make them out to be, they do reduce
the sound of weapons a significant amount.
There is no way to stop a bullet from creating a sonic boom, so when firing a gun there will
always be some noise.
The containment and slow release of pressurized gas is the way that silencers take the deafening
roar of a gun and make it only slightly louder than James Bond’s Walther PPK in the movies.
If you want to know more about military technology watch our video US Military's Most Powerful
Cannon – Electromagnetic Railgun.
Or if you are into the stealth aspect of the military watch Next Generation Stealth Bomber:
B-21 Raider (What Do We Know About It?).
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