Approved Personal Energy Shields aka making melee viable again (maybe)

PES (Personal Energy Shield) are one of the latest innovations in military equipment. These devices (commonly built into a set of thick armor, but can be worn as a pack without such) project a field around the user that renders them almost immune to high-velocity ballistic weaponry, but the tradeoff is that the shielding works both ways, making it impossible for the user to wield such weapons themselves. On the other hand, slow moving projectile weapons like bows or thrown objects, along with traditional melee weapons, can penetrate the shield. High-yield explosives will also short out the shield.In addition, EMPs do not seem to have an effect. The most effective counter to shield screened warriors is to either bombard them with artillery, or deploy shield soldiers of your own and hope they have more fighting skill than the enemy. A very inefficient method of taking down a shielded soldier is to have at least four or more gunmen concentrate fire on a single target. It has been shown that sustained fire from multiple sources and multiple directions can short out a shield screen for several minutes, rendering the soldier vulnerable. However, drawbacks aside, many believe that the use of shield screens will become very pervasive as time goes by, leading to them becoming a staple of the battlefield and ending the singular dominance of the firearm. Already most interplanetary governments have developed working PES devices along with many private corporations. However, due to the expense of manufacturing them and the high level of technology required to keep them running, there are no legal manufacturers who produce shield screens for private civilian use. Counterfeit devices do exist on the black market, but they only run for a few minutes and tend to short out frequently. The most popular local manufacturer of PES devices in the sector is a company called Dyxson Defenses, which will happily sell shield screens in bulk to any organization with deep enough pockets.

 

My argument is that just because it exists doesn't mean people will think of it, or alternately, think its allowed. But as for the company, that's literally it. Dyxson Defenses is that one sentence, a local company that sells these devices in bulk. They don't have a secret hit squad or criminal ties, they're just another business.

 

To answer the technical question, its just a matter of speed. A ball of plasma moving slow enough would get past the field, same as anything else. Or the shield could be shorted out by mass fire from multiple sources. And um, melee does not have to be primitive. An energy sword held by a man in durasteel armor with 2400-era technology built into it is futuristic, regardless of the fact that he needs to be close to his opponent to damage them. And yes in a way, I do feel they may become a significant part of combat, but at the same time they are designed in such a way that the best way to fight would be a mixture of guns and melee. In a standard battle of this kind, the melee users would engage each other while gunmen attempt to support them by shorting out enemy shields with mass fire, while also firing at enemy gunmen in order to prevent them from doing the same. Whoever can short out the enemy's melee will probably be the ones who win. This isn't taking into account vehicles, which would greatly change the dynamic and put more importance on ranged soldiers. Will it be a major change to the way battles are fought? Probably. But it will not make things more primitive, just take it in a new direction.