smokehard

If you have ever lived near an artillery range, you’ll know they are hella loud and noisy. Thankfully I have never had the displeasure, but for people in Germany, their annoyance was enough that the German government actually commissioned a company to come up with a design for a silencer for tanks and artillery. Think about it. It’s the military equivalent of a garage band putting egg crates on the walls to appease complainy neighbors.

Let’s stop for a second to say “wow, that looks fucking cool!”

According to one forum, the device was built by Rheinmetall AG; a German defence contractor. And thanks to George Eller over at WW2inColor, we have this response from the Bundeswehr Technical Center for Weapons and Ammunition (WTD 91) in Meppen.

thank you for your mail regarding the shooting muffler for the PzH M109. We can give you the information that this system was only a study by a well-known german company. So we can not provide you a construction plan or any details about the function. It was tested here at the test center for weapon and ammunition a few years ago but it was not established in the Bundeswehr. Meanwhile our prototype was scrapped. Enclosed you will find a few pictures of the “schalldämpfer”. (Link)

I bet that thing cost tens of millions to “test”. Why the fuck can’t governments spend that kind of money on…you know…cars that run on air, settlements on the moon, and other things more useful than making artillery practice less noisy.

Also, don’t get the above Schalldämpfer mixed up with the below Schalldämpfer.