What if we recreated a Gundam beam rifle with modern technology? [Technical Simulation Part 1]

I usually provide serious explanations of technology and industry, but please relax and enjoy this series. This is a technical simulation that considers "What if this technology were put into practical use and became widespread?" based on current technology and research.

A Gundam's beam rifle is a weapon that can penetrate a mobile suit weighing several dozen tons in a single shot. While it is depicted as a matter of course in anime, if we were to recreate it with modern technology, just how much energy and technology would be required?

This time, rather than using official Gundam settings, I will perform a technical simulation based on current engineering and physics concepts to see "what if we really made a beam rifle."

※This article is a technical simulation. The numerical values are estimates based on real-world physical laws and engineering concepts, and differ from official Gundam settings.

How much power is needed to penetrate a mobile suit?

For this simulation, we will assume a mobile suit that is 18m tall and weighs approximately 60 tons, with 30cm thick armor, and that the beam opens a 50cm diameter hole.

Calculating under these conditions, the beam rifle would need to penetrate while melting approximately 460kg of metal in an instant.

460kg might be hard to imagine. This is the weight of about two large motorcycles, or about seven adults. Energy sufficient to turn that much metal into liquid in an instant is required.

Calculating the required energy

It is said that approximately 1MJ of energy per 1kg is required to melt iron from room temperature.

For 460kg, that is about 460MJ, but a laser cannot utilize 100% of the irradiated energy. Considering losses due to reflection and heat diffusion, and assuming an efficiency of 20%, the required energy becomes approximately five times that, or 2.3GJ (2,300MJ).

Converting this to electrical energy, it is about 640kWh.
This is equivalent to releasing the electricity an average household uses in about 23 days in just one second. If it were designed to fire 10 shots, that would be about 6,400kWh, meaning a single rifle would be carrying enough electrical energy to power an average household for about 8 months.

How does it compare to modern weapons?

In the simulation so far, we assumed that one shot from a Gundam's beam rifle would require approximately 2.3GJ (2,300MJ) of energy.

First, laser weapons currently being researched and developed in Japan are in the 100kW class. The energy when irradiating this for one second is approximately 0.1MJ.

Since the beam rifle simulated this time is approximately 2,300MJ, it calculates to releasing approximately 23,000 times the energy of current laser weapons in an instant.

In other words, if current laser weapons are technology for intercepting drones and mortars, a Gundam's beam rifle is not just an extension of that, but a completely different dimension of technology several steps ahead.

Next, let's compare it with an anti-tank missile.

Modern anti-tank missiles use the chemical energy of explosives carried in the warhead to penetrate armor. That energy amount is generally on the scale of several dozen MJ.

On the other hand, the beam rifle simulated this time is approximately 2,300MJ.

Looking purely at the amount of energy, it is calculated that energy equivalent to several dozen anti-tank missiles is concentrated into a single point in an instant. However, the mechanisms of the two are vastly different. Anti-tank missiles destroy armor through the force of an explosion and a metal jet, whereas a beam rifle melts and penetrates armor using ultra-high-temperature energy itself.

Furthermore, when compared to nuclear weapons, the difference becomes even greater.

The energy released by the Hiroshima-type atomic bomb was approximately 63TJ (63,000GJ).

Compared to the approximately 2.3GJ beam rifle simulated this time, there is a difference of about 27,000 times.

In other words, in terms of energy quantity alone, nuclear weapons are overwhelming. However, while nuclear weapons are weapons that release energy widely across a city scale, a beam rifle is a weapon that concentrates that energy to the extreme within a range of several dozen centimeters.

To use an analogy, a nuclear weapon is like breaking a massive dam. On the other hand, a beam rifle is like taking that water and spraying it through a needle-sized hole, turning it into an ultra-high-pressure water jet capable of slicing through steel.

If it were to truly become a reality

Summarizing the simulations so far, the Gundam's beam rifle is not merely a "powerful laser weapon."

If it were truly realized, it would mean that inside a size portable by a Gundam, an energy source capable of releasing the power consumption of an average household for about 23 days in an instant is installed.

Furthermore, since it fires multiple shots in succession in the show, it must be equipped not only with the ability to store energy but also with the technology to supply it instantaneously, handle the enormous heat after firing, and immediately fire the next shot.

In other words, in the world of Gundam, not only the mobile suits themselves, but all foundational technologies such as energy density, power storage, cooling, materials, and control have advanced to a level incomparable to the modern day.

In other words, the backpack that the Gundam carries might not just be equipment, but an energy system that far exceeds modern small-scale power plants.

That is precisely why the beam rifle can be said to be not just a "weapon of the future," but a symbol of future energy technology itself.