Weapons in science fiction

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Science fiction typically features fanciful or not-so-fanciful weapons that depict the changes in the field. A sci-fi story that focuses elsewhere may just use generic beam weapons, while a military science fiction story or a meticulously detailed story might have an intricate variety of weapons.

The archetypal example is the raygun, a directed-energy weapon that comes in all sizes and shapes, shooting lasers, plasma, or particle beams depending on the setting. Rayguns have become a cliché in the genre, particularly when used to the exclusion of real-world-type firearms. Notoriously, rayguns that have been poorly designed or that aim for style before sense may be inferior to their contemporary real-world counterparts, particularly in the visual medium with its limited special effects budgets.

Sci-fi weapons can range from "much the same as lasers" to unrecognizability. Space warfare, a field with no real-world equivalent as of yet, is the bread and butter of the genre and requires weapons built for circumstances radically different from any encountered on Earth. Space allows for entirely new types of weapons, such as the relativistic kill vehicle. In settings that allow deflector shields, arms are often focused around defeating or circumventing them.

In fighting on the ground, sci-fi weapons often resemble modern real weapons, save for firing energy bolts and not kinetic projectiles. But also new types of weapon systems (sonic, psionic, etc.) are not unusual, and some authors create an entirely different paradigm of combat. On occasion even traditional swordplay may make a comeback (lightsabers being the best known example, chainswords being a cruder but more macho one).

Some science fiction weapons are plausible, but do not currently exist. Others use imaginary or physically impossible technologies. And see Directed-energy weapon, Drawbacks in real-world use. A few, such as those used in films such as Starship Troopers or Aliens, are practically the same as those of today, only modified to look futuristic.

Some real-world weapons initiatives such as the American Strategic Defense Initiative can have a resemblance to science fiction weapons. Science fiction has also drawn on real-world scenarios, such as the idea of a Doomsday machine, which was seriously contemplated by Cold War nuclear strategists.