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FASTER THAN A SPEEDING BULLET (A First Look at America’s Supergun)
The Wall Street Journal ^ | May 27, 2016 | Julian E. Barnes

Posted on 05/27/2016 10:28:47 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki

DAHLGREN, Va.—A warning siren bellowed through the concrete bunker of a top-secret Naval facility where U.S. military engineers prepared to demonstrate a weapon for which there is little defense.

Officials huddled at a video screen for a first look at a deadly new supergun that can fire a 25-pound projectile through seven steel plates and leave a 5-inch hole.

The weapon is called a railgun and requires neither gunpowder nor explosive. It is powered by electromagnetic rails that accelerate a hardened projectile to staggering velocity—a battlefield meteorite with the power to one day transform military strategy, say supporters, and keep the U.S. ahead of advancing Russian and Chinese weaponry.

In conventional guns, a bullet loses velocity from the moment the gunpowder ignites and sends it flying. The railgun projectile instead gains speed as it travels the length of a 32-foot barrel, exiting the muzzle at 4,500 miles an hour, or more than a mile a second.

“This is going to change the way we fight,” said U.S. Navy Adm. Mat Winter, the head of the Office of Naval Research.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: armsbuildup; miltech; railgun; supergun
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To: Flick Lives

yes that’s almost fast enough to out run a ford truck.


61 posted on 05/27/2016 12:22:24 PM PDT by old gringo (a wise monkey never monkeys with another monkeys monkey.)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Requires a hit, though. A standard naval gun proximity fused can do significant damage on a near-miss.


62 posted on 05/27/2016 12:24:25 PM PDT by JimRed (Is it 1776 yet? TERM LIMITS, now and forever! Build the Wall, NOW!)
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To: arthurus

I saw that too. Knuckleheads.


63 posted on 05/27/2016 12:29:05 PM PDT by SgtHooper (If you remember the 60's, YOU WEREN'T THERE!)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

“In conventional guns, a bullet loses velocity from the moment the gunpowder ignites and sends it flying. “

If that were the case, explosive guns wouldn’t use long barrels - like rifles.


64 posted on 05/27/2016 12:32:29 PM PDT by DaxtonBrown (wrote Harry Reid.s only biography www.futurnamics.com/reid.php)
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To: The_Media_never_lie

“25 megawatt of power is enough to light a city.”

You guys are confusing watts with joules. Watts is a measure of power, energy per second. It may require a 25megawatt generator that only operates a second or two.

A 10kg projectile requires 35,000,000 joules to get it to 45000 mph (double that for inefficiencies = 70,000,000 J). Sounds like a lot, but if you are charging a capacitor bank, that’s only 2.5 seconds if you have a 25 megawatt generator (that’s a 33,000 horsepower plus engine)..


65 posted on 05/27/2016 12:56:06 PM PDT by DaxtonBrown (wrote Harry Reid.s only biography www.futurnamics.com/reid.php)
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To: sauropod

read


66 posted on 05/27/2016 12:59:00 PM PDT by sauropod (Beware the fury of a patient man.)
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To: arthurus

Right. Since the bullet is still at the moment of ignition, it has to gain a whole lot of velocity before it starts losing velocity.


67 posted on 05/27/2016 1:03:02 PM PDT by maro (what did the President know and when did he know it?)
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To: mountainlion

It ain’t the Watts, it is the Joules - how long does it take to charge the gun at 25 MW?


68 posted on 05/27/2016 1:21:57 PM PDT by Little Ray (NOTHING THAT SOMEONE ELSE HAS TO PAY FOR IS A RIGHT.)
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To: fella
Edger KB(ka-Boom) McKenzie of Possum Lodge fame always says “There’s no problem that can’t be solved with explosives”.

:D

Thank you for that.

69 posted on 05/27/2016 1:22:47 PM PDT by Edward.Fish
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To: Little Ray

A 25 megawatt power plant and large capacitor bank are required to provide enough pulse power to fire the weapon 10 times a minute.


70 posted on 05/27/2016 1:28:42 PM PDT by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
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To: mountainlion

So that is 150 MegaJoules - 35.85 kg of TNT.


71 posted on 05/27/2016 1:49:33 PM PDT by Little Ray (NOTHING THAT SOMEONE ELSE HAS TO PAY FOR IS A RIGHT.)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Hillarious picture at article, showing ultra high-tech, 25 megawatt powered gun being loaded by hand.


72 posted on 05/27/2016 2:00:33 PM PDT by Mr. Blond
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To: Little Ray

1000 watts is about 1 horsepower.

One Megawatt used to be enough power for 7,000 houses.

I did not notice the voltage or amperage of the discharge but the instantaneous power must be amazing.


73 posted on 05/27/2016 2:09:02 PM PDT by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
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To: mountainlion

Put a guidance system on the round for anti-aircraft or anti-missile work. No more aircraft within 10-20 miles of the ship.


74 posted on 05/27/2016 2:13:04 PM PDT by Little Ray (NOTHING THAT SOMEONE ELSE HAS TO PAY FOR IS A RIGHT.)
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To: rightwingcrazy
Also, it's 25 megawatts for a fraction of a second - easily stored up in supercapacitors or something like this over a period of time, then all discharged at once. Say, 25 Kw for 1,000 seconds (about 17 minutes). It's a high power requirement, but the total energy requirements are fairly modest (a couplafew megajoules?)
75 posted on 05/27/2016 2:14:23 PM PDT by -YYZ- (Strong like bull, smart like tractor.)
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To: Little Ray

No more aircraft within 10-20 miles of the ship.

I wonder if an internal guidance system could take the acceleration of the firing?


76 posted on 05/27/2016 2:15:34 PM PDT by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
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To: dangerdoc

Actually, 45 Mw for a microsecond is only 45 Joules. Your car could provide that in less than a second - typical car alternator is somewhere in the 1 Kw area, so it would only take .045 seconds to generate that 45 Joules of energy.

But I’m guessing the pulse necessary for a rail gun is probably at least in the 10s of milliseconds area. Let’s say 50 ms. so 45 e06 * 50 e-03 is 2.25 MJ. That would take your car’s alternator a couple thousand seconds to produce.


77 posted on 05/27/2016 2:20:49 PM PDT by -YYZ- (Strong like bull, smart like tractor.)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Metal Storm https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiPs6aXmvvMAhVJ74MKHUggB44QtwIIJDAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DwKlnMwuCZso&usg=AFQjCNF9_TzlV0ni1tSM_YzBLtvtBa3uRQ&bvm=bv.123325700,bs.2,d.eWE


78 posted on 05/27/2016 2:30:09 PM PDT by stockpirate (Flush Limbaigh a low information talk show host concerning Ted sCruz and Marco foamboy Rubio.)
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To: Seruzawa

Yes.

Assuming you could armor-up a tank to defend against this, the weight, and the energy needed to move that weight are impractical to impossible. And the armament? The current Abrams main gun MV of a 120mm sabot round is +/- 5,200 fps (if memory serves). Doesn’t come close to generating the same kinetic force.

Yes, this is a potential game changer. But...how to provide the power to fire this beasty is the $64,000 question.

regards,


79 posted on 05/27/2016 2:31:05 PM PDT by Thunder 6
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To: -YYZ-

Where I used to work, we called them BFCs. Still, you need something to charge them up.


80 posted on 05/27/2016 2:33:14 PM PDT by rightwingcrazy (qq)
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