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The 5,400mph superweapon: 'Star Wars' gun can fire shells at seven times speed of sound through
UK Daily Mail ^ | April 10, 2014 | David Williams

Posted on 04/11/2014 5:31:07 AM PDT by C19fan

A lethal new weapon that can fire a shell at seven times the speed of sound has been successfully tested on land. Described as ‘Star Wars technology’ by researchers, such a device has belonged solely to the world of science fiction for decades. But now it is close to a reality with sea trials on a US warship planned in two years.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: navy; railgun
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To: C19fan
"I wonder what the force one of these shells has compared to say a conventional 16 inch round." Kenetic energy released on impact can and will be far more destructive, IMO. If you scale your velocity by a factor of λ, your Energy released on impact is scaled by a factor of λ2.
21 posted on 04/11/2014 6:04:25 AM PDT by ThomasMore (Islam is the Whore of Babylon!)
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To: C19fan
Only a media reporter would report projectile speed in mph or Mach numbers.

5400mph is 7920 ft/sec.

So how does that compare to other projectile speeds?

16”/50 battle ship projectiles - ~2700 ft/sec
.30-06 rifle bullet - ~2900 ft/sec
Rheinmetall 120mm tank gun ~5700 ft/sec
WWI German ‘Paris Gun’ ~12,920 ft/sec

So this rail gun is producing a 40% increase on velocity, compared to very high velocity modern artillery pieces.

It is a significantly lower velocity (60%) than the WWI Paris gun, which fired a projectile 10 times as large.

I'm not saying it isn't a great achievement, it is, but it is not producing unheard of velocities. The big plus is that it is achieving the velocities in a progressive acceleration curve that allows the use of on-board guidance, and it manages a total size and cycle rate that is tactically useful.

This has the potential to be the biggest development in naval warfare since nuclear submarines. I could see the reintroduction of armored ships, sporting rail guns and laser CIWS defenses. They would go in harms way without air support and put everything the enemy had within 300-500 miles of the coast in jeopardy (next generation 14,000 fps, guns).

22 posted on 04/11/2014 6:05:43 AM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: DownInFlames

Unless they are kicking the shell up out of the atmosphere, which I don’t think it is capable of, the range will be shorter, especially if they are relying on kinetics over explosives.


23 posted on 04/11/2014 6:09:07 AM PDT by dangerdoc
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To: Cletus.D.Yokel

Try getting hit with one. Heck, just stepping on it at night after the kids left it on the floor. Ouch!!!


24 posted on 04/11/2014 6:10:41 AM PDT by Teacher317 (We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men)
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To: C19fan; Jeff Head

Ask Jeff, he keeps up with stuff like this


25 posted on 04/11/2014 6:13:58 AM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans!)
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To: dangerdoc

The story I saw in NBC Monday night showed the explosive power of a 20 pound warhead fired at Mach 7. The engineer gloated this could hit an object 2,000 miles away w a velocity of 5,400mph and proper elevation.

Just sayn


26 posted on 04/11/2014 6:14:13 AM PDT by DownInFlames
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To: Cletus.D.Yokel

You funny guy.


27 posted on 04/11/2014 6:16:28 AM PDT by McGruff
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To: PapaBear3625

The last time I was on a Navy ship was 20 years ago. They carried antimissile defense systems then, I’m wondering how effective antiship missiles are now.


28 posted on 04/11/2014 6:18:15 AM PDT by dangerdoc
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To: SampleMan; C19fan; dangerdoc; Jack Hydrazine; Col Frank Slade; Dusty Road; Cletus.D.Yokel; ...

I’ve discovered that the material I was referencing in my #22 had a typo (probably due to metric conversion).

The German Paris Gun velocity was ‘only’ 5400 fps, which negates, the point I made about conventional velocities that have been reached.

My apologies.


29 posted on 04/11/2014 6:18:58 AM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: C19fan

The Navy should of just asked this guy.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7d3_1395896476


30 posted on 04/11/2014 6:26:44 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$
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To: DownInFlames

I don’t have the math mojo to make the calculations anymore, but that seems rather optimistic, but I can’t prove it wrong.


31 posted on 04/11/2014 6:29:06 AM PDT by dangerdoc
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To: EQAndyBuzz

f=ma.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnm-etchLOk


32 posted on 04/11/2014 6:30:50 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$
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To: GeronL; C19fan
The rail gun will be tested at sea in 2016, aboard one of the new Joint High Speed Vessels (JHSV). Then presuming that is successful, and I believe it will be, it will be deployed on the first US destroyer in 2018-2020.



THE US NAVY'S RAIL GUN

This will be game changing technology for close-in anti-air warfare, anti-ship warfare, and fire support for ground forces.

33 posted on 04/11/2014 6:36:48 AM PDT by Jeff Head
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To: C19fan

To be accurate, doesn’t the gun have to remain motionless? Or is there a guidance system? Even with gyros and an active suspension system, I don’t see how this could be accurate at long range.


34 posted on 04/11/2014 6:39:41 AM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas ( Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
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To: DownInFlames
The engineer gloated this could hit an object 2,000 miles

I'm not a rocket scientest but doesn't the curvature of the Earth come in at some point?

35 posted on 04/11/2014 6:41:04 AM PDT by McGruff
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To: Jeff Head

Once fielded, the only real defense will become placement of assets on reverse slopes, which will be impossible to hit (more so than standard artillery).


36 posted on 04/11/2014 6:41:59 AM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: C19fan

and the guy in the zodiac pulls alongside the USN ship detonates himself and blows a 40’ hole .....


37 posted on 04/11/2014 6:51:51 AM PDT by zzwhale
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To: dangerdoc
The last time I was on a Navy ship was 20 years ago. They carried antimissile defense systems then, I’m wondering how effective antiship missiles are now.

We won't know for sure until they've seen actual use against hostile fire. Both missiles and land-based railguns (using stolen technology from us, you just know the Chinese and Russians have complete plans by now)

With regards to the railgun, if they've solved the issue of firing it wearing out the rails quickly, to the point where we can fire at least 100 rounds before the rails need replacement, this thing would be a game changer. A Mach 5+ projectile is harder to shoot down than a missile -- it will present challenges to enemy defensive systems comparable to hitting a ballistic missile warhead (and on the downside, will give a greater incentive for countries to develop systems which would then have the ability to defend against either railgun projectiles or warheads)

38 posted on 04/11/2014 6:54:19 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
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To: dangerdoc
Unless they are kicking the shell up out of the atmosphere, which I don’t think it is capable of, the range will be shorter, especially if they are relying on kinetics over explosives.

Using a trajectory calculator, if we neglect air resistance (which, I know, we can't, and it WILL be a big factor, but bear with me) a shell fired at a 45 degree angle at 7920 f/s (= 2414 m/s) would go 594 km, reaching a peak height of 148 km, which is above most of the atmosphere.

39 posted on 04/11/2014 7:07:00 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
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To: DownInFlames

Nope. Air resistance will prevent that.


40 posted on 04/11/2014 8:00:37 AM PDT by 17th Miss Regt
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