The Navy’s electromagnetic railgun is officially dead

Task and Purpose ^ | July 6, 2021 | Jared Keller

[Yo-Yo]

About time this boondogle was cancelled.

[Red Badger]

So, it’s been electrocuted?.................

[Leaning Right]

I’m a little disappointed. I was hoping to see the railgun mounted on California’s high-speed train. It would have made one heck of a coastal defense weapon, and so well worth the expense.

[Midwesterner53]

Not a woke project, no future in it.

[Colt1851Navy]

Biden wants to shoot 16 inch shells filled with money at the CCP.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“The Navy announced on Friday that the service has “decided to pause” research and development of the much-hyped electromagnetic railgun (or EMRG) at the end of 2021 in light of the growing need for tranny surgeries, the effort to root out evil white supremacists, and conducting critically important CRT indoctrination sessions and struggle sessions.

[Jonty30]

I don’t think of it as a boondoggle. It would have been amazingly cheap to launch solid metal missiles without needing fuel. This would have allowed ships to have more missiles on board.

They just found something better in the form of lasers.

[Tell It Right]

In other words, Emperor Xi was afraid of it and wanted development of it stopped.

Is this a repeat of the Democrats slowing down SDI (missile defense) every time they're in office, under the auspices of not wanting to make Russia mad?

[TauntedTiger]

If high speed rail in California was cancelled we’d have something.

[llevrok]

Does this also include the catapault on the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) ?

[setter]

Probably developed something more lethal

[Gen.Blather]

“They just found something better in the form of lasers.”

About the time naval guns became super-sophisticated, autoloading, remote control weapons stations, they were obsoleted by missiles on smaller boats and lasers on large ships. That doesn’t mean such guns will vanish, especially on craft that do not mount sophisticated radars. But they will be more rare.

The point is, some technologies that seemed like a great idea at the time, can become obsolete even before they get fielded. Actually, that’s the ideal time to find out something is obsolete. But the science behind some of these developments may get carried forward in unexpected ways. Microcircuits, heart implants and the internet all had their start on military projects.

[Yo-Yo]

I don’t think of it as a boondoggle. It would have been amazingly cheap to launch solid metal missiles without needing fuel. This would have allowed ships to have more missiles on board.

The launcher ate its rail electrodes with every shot, requiring a complete rebuild after a dozen shots.

[discostu]

Rail guns always sound cool. But in practice that is a LOT of energy to try to put on a portable system.

[HIDEK6]

The problem with the superguns was discovered by the Nazis in 1935 or so.

Since they were rail mounted, their locations could be easily pinpointed. The superguns also required vast resources to defend them.

[backwoods-engineer]

Why doesn’t the Navy just preemptively surrender to Communist China, and be done with it once and for all?

[backwoods-engineer]

This isn’t about guns mounted on railroad cars. A rail gun is an electromagnetic projectile launcher. Muzzle velocities can be as high as several kilometers per second.

[jz638]

What about the tin can that was supposed to carry the railgun? If that’s not also cancelled, this is just a shell game.

[ASOC]

Paused so the CHICOMS can catch up/surpass the US?

[LS]

Yep. Gotta research stuff. Sometimes “no” is an answer.