Posted on 03/23/2017 4:42:09 AM PDT by simpson96
(full article title: US military tests new 'game-changer' electromagnetic railgun that can fire projectiles from ships at 4,500mph)
The US military are in the process of testing a new electromagnetic gun that can fire ammo at 4,500mph.
The Navy have developed a weapon that will use a ship's self-generated power to fire at long-range targets.
This means that the electromagnetic railgun launcher uses electricity instead of chemical propellants.
Magnetic fields created by high electrical currents accelerate a sliding metal conductor, or armature, between two rails to launch projectiles at 4,500mph.
The railgun is powered by electricity that has been generated by the ship and stored in a 'pulse power system'.
Next, an electric pulse is sent to the railgun, creating an electromagnetic force accelerating the projectile up to Mach 6.
Using its extreme speed on impact, the kinetic energy warhead eliminates the hazards of high explosives being kept on the ship, and on land, reduces the chance of unexploded bombs which could potentially be detonated.
According to the Office of Naval Research : "The railgun is a true warfighter game changer.
"Wide-area coverage and exceptionally quick response will extend the reach and lethality of ships armed with this technology."
(Excerpt) Read more at mirror.co.uk ...
Second time have seen Montana class, there is no such thing as a Montana class battleship
All gun barrels have a limit on how many times they can be accurately fired.
I'm curious how quickly air resistance would reduce projectile speed down to that of a normal gun projectile.
Well, maybe not in the universe you were born in.
Have any missing time?
Any unexpected tunnels warps or side slips on any of your travels?
Were 3 leaf clovers rare?
Nice. Comes with its own deer stand.
Montana class - yes, we know that no Montana class ships were ever built. The Montana class was a design and plan as the follow-on successor to the Iowa class. The first two Montana class ships were approved in 1939, but the world interrupted and changes all the naval construction plans.
I wonder what happens if there is a short?
Never. Remember Maude Flanders and the horror of Homer Simpson's T shirt cannon.
:)
This electrically powered rail gun is to sophisticated as well as complicated for use on a naval vessel.
Until it can be simplified to be maintained by your average seaman it won’t do much good.The navy will still require conventional guns to defend their ships in the event this rail gun has a significant failure,Power or otherwise.
Also the rail gun system needs to be miniaturized.That test model was huge.
It also needs to be water proof because water and electricity don’t coexist well.
I see this as a project that will take another 50 years before it’s put on any combat vessel of the U.S.Navy/
But a railgun is much cheaper per shot, and reloads quickly. Kinetic orbital strikes take a l-o-o-o-n-g time to reload.
And, the local commander decides when to fire the railgun. How many layers of brass are involved in calling in a strike from orbit?
That’s right, take away the most awesome part of a battleship gun... the BOOM.
While I like technology as much as anybody, there’s stuff you CAN do, then there’s stuff you COULD DO BUT DON’T NEED TO.
This (since the 1980s when I first heard about them) sounds suspiciously like the latter.
Thanks for the link. Looking at that picture it’s easy to see that after we cancelled them the Japanese went ahead and built one, calling it the Yamato. Said boat is now a gigantic rusting fish haven on the bottom of the Pacific.
Bring back Monitors—armed with rail Guns. Cheaper than A Battleship and just as deadly because they are accurate.
All those years ago we knew that “J Department” was up to something neat, but now we know it was really neat! ;-)
I'm curious how quickly air resistance would reduce projectile speed down to that of a normal gun projectile.
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This gun barrel is different than a conventional gun. The barrel does not develop pressure behind the round as it goes through the barrel. Instead the round is magnetically pushed through the barrel with little friction. The flame you see is not so much from the barrel as the carrier that propels the round being vaporized by the electricity on either side of the round.
Since 7000 miles per hour is approximately 2 miles per second there is very little time for much reduction in speed of the round before hitting the target. Even if the speed is reduced by 1/2, 3500 mph, that is still the equivalent of 17 football fields in one second. I would hate to be hit with a cannon ball going that fast.
This is a very mean weapon. As far as size is concerned it is tiny compared to say a 16 inch gun. It flies a round 4 or 5 times farther in less than 1/10th of the space used by conventional 16” guns.
These guns can be mounted on a destroyer instead of a battleship, a destroyer could become more dangerous than any previous battleship.
The round being used now is depleted uranium because of its great weight, that means its inertial profile will carry it 100 miles. Surface mounted radar can only detect surface craft out to a little over 80 miles, that puts the weapon beyond the reach of most navies that don't have aircraft carriers.
Eventually these guns will have to use other materials. While expended uranium is not as expensive as a missile it is much more expensive than lead but it is also much heavier than lead. Some version of hardened lead will eventually be used as a shorter range round for these rail guns while the more advanced expended uranium rounds will be saved for longer range targets.
These guns are simply amazing and deadly. The round flies so fast that they are not nearly as much affected by wind and humidity as conventional rounds. The are more deadly than explosive rounds because the high speed impact they actually cause explosive damage on impact. On impact the round becomes molten metal destroying everything it hits and it hits a lot because of its weight and speed. It is like a throwing a tomato down on a hard surface, when it splats it goes everywhere. When the molten uranium goes everywhere it causes disastrous consequences. You don't want to be anywhere near.
thanks for the info, I will look into what you’d said. I’ll note the gun in question has a mussel V of 4,500 mph but perhaps the goal is 7,000 mph and this is not the finished product. Not going to quibble about that. thx again.
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