[rlmorel]

A railgun might well be incredibly accurate, but it is fired with a pre-determined destination of where a target will be if it is moving, or against a non-moving target.

There is no terminal guidance on a rail-fired weapon that I am aware of. If you fire it against a non-moving target, it can hit. If you fire it against a moving target and calculate where that moving target is going to be and it doesn’t change course or speed, it will hit. But if it moves erratically, I don’t see how they are going to get around that.

Like this whole thing with hypersonic torpedoes. Sure, it can go fast underwater, and if you fire it close enough that evasive action isn’t possible it could get a hit. But any distance away, you are going to get course and direction of the inbound torpedo and even a small change in your course is going to cause a miss. Take the difficulty in terminal guidance in the air and it is multiplied many times over in a liquid environment.

Hypersonic stand off weapons against stationary targets are going to be the way to go...you can engage from further away (grunts on the ground need air support) so you don’t have to fly close, and the range will be closed far quicker by the munition.

But against moving targets? I don’t see it.

[rlmorel]

That is, by the way, my opinion. I am not an expert, and could be wrong. Just the way I see the state of affairs.

[laplata]

Thanks for all the good information.

I have always thought the US Navy’s Phalanx guns were inadequate. But I’m definitely no expert.

[Ozark Tom]

The gun-launched guided projectile (GLGP) is a proposed missile intercept system using the rail-gun (Mach-8) derived projectile with steering. The range and velocity are reduced as fired from powder guns, but an explosive charge compensates for the lowered kinetic energy.

https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5025281/Navy-Lasers-Railgun-and-Gun-Launched-Guided.pdf

[TXnMA]

"But against moving targets? I don’t see it."

Howdy, FRiend! & Happy New Year!!!

Consider that a vessel maneuvers at multiple knots (one Nautical Mile per HOUR).

OTOH, a hypersonic projectile/missile travels at rates of ~>one Nautical Mile per SECOND!

That's a velocity unit difference of 3600 : 1!

Leaving the matters of of threat detection/recognition time, crew decision/reaction time, and vessel response time out of the equation -- what delta in speed & position could a maneuvering destroyer achieve -- in the ten or so seconds of projectile flight time from a tracking railgun at a 10 NM distance?

~~~~~~~~~~

Or -- did I miss something?

FRegards,

TXnMA
 

[SgtHooper]

Hell, not even the aliens on TV or any futuristic people from anywhere, can hit a moving target. Incredibly annoying. Intergalactic travel, and still can’t hit a moving target!