Ten Best Never-Used Weapon Systems

Ten Best Never-Used Weapon Systems, From the USSR Ekranoplane to the Puckle Gun

1. Ekranoplan
Dubbed the Caspian Sea Monster, the USSR's top-secret ekranoplan skimmed on a pocket of air just above the water's surface and well below radar. Only a handful were built, and the behemoth never made it out of trials.

2. Marine Corps Space Plane
A few years ago, the Marine Corps proposed Sustain — the Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion project — which would put boots on the ground anywhere in the world within two hours. It made a great PowerPoint presentation.

3. Atomic Airplane
In the 1950s, a rumor spread that the Soviets were working on a nuclear-powered aircraft. Alarmed, the US rushed to finish its own. The hitch: The crew would be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. One solution offered was to use older pilots.

4. Psychedelics
For years, the US military experimented on its own soldiers with LSD, pot, and 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, hoping to learn how to give foreign armies a bad trip.

5. Sun Gun
The Nazis developed plans to build a space-based reflector that would redirect sunlight into a devastating heat beam. Allied engineers doubted the Germans could do it. They were right.

To read about the next five at Wired Magazine, click here.