M78 Phased Plamsa Infantry Gun

The PIG is a man-portable, shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon. The 15 kg weapon consists of the gun and a power pack. It is a 15mW phased plasma system firing vaporized 5 gm Cadmium-Telluride pellets, with a 30 round capacity. The power pack contains a 4mW hydrogen fuel cell to power the gun's laser and magnetic coil. The gun has a firing rate of 3 seconds, most of which is used in charging the discharge generator. The gun is rated to breach the flank armor of a heavy tank at 1 km.

The firing cycle starts when the fast-discharge generator pulses a laser, which creates an ionized air channel toward the target. The ionized channel is magnetized by the gun's electromagnetic coil creating a magnetic tunnel. A C-T pellet is ejected into the tunnel resulting in the laser vaporizing it into a superheated plasma. The magnetic coil then accelerates the plasma toward the target at approximately 5 km/s. When it reaches it's target, the plasma burns through any matter due to it's kinetic and thermal energy.