[UMCRevMom@aol.com]

Does anyone know about the reality of [or can explain] this new Electromagnetic Railgun weapon?

Elon’s Musk Electromagnetic Railgun For Ukraine - The Most Powerful Cannon Ever
Daily Aviation
Jan 17, 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbuXxKZ8VXg

[Jonty30]

Railguns fall apart after a few shots. It’s why the navy quit pursing them. They are installing high powered lasers, that do not fail, instead.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2021/03/11/us-army-develops-laser-machinegun-firing-light-bullets/?sh=4a6199dd68a3

[buwaya]

There have been a good number of railgun development programs. The most advanced was run by the US Navy, over @15 years. But they abandoned the project in 2021-22. Too expensive for too little utility. They figured hypersonic projectile tech and missiles were more likely to pay off.

Look up “Naval Surface Warfare Dahlgren Railgun”.

[PIF]

The simple answer is that materials science has not produced any material that can withstand the sort of forces generated for more that a few rounds when the barrel is warn out.

Therefore, after one or two shots the gun is useless.

[Chainmail]

Unfortunately, except for propaganda purposes, the railgun is more or less a technological dead end;

1. It cannot fire explosive projectiles - it can only fire inert projectiles at very high velocities. The normal fuze-booster-explosive fill cannot be as yet designed to withstand the enormous EMPs generated to fire the projectile. It is a direct fire weapon - anything further than line of sight will be at rapidly reducing velocity due to air drag and at serious longer ranges, you are essentially throwing a brick.

2. The Railgun uses immense amounts of current to fire their projectiles. Siting one near to adequate electric generation sites would necessarily leave them convenient for targeting. That, and the EMP generated at launch is a very easily detected signature.

3.Dang things are large too - see the above for what happens if you are detected.

4. Individual guidance of projectiles is also precluded by the aforementioned EMP loads. Without final guidance, the railgun becomes the Paris Gun without explosives. The WWI Paris Gun had a Range Probable Error the size of - Paris - and was strictly a "to-whom-it-may-concern" random terror weapon and useless tactically and strategically.

5. The Railgun eats its rails; each shot erodes much of the launch rails. Last I heard, they last four shots or so.

Musk is an industrial genius, but even he can't overcome physics.

[Rockingham]

Small electromagnetic rail guns have limited used in research applications based on their efficiency and precision in launching projectiles at high velocities. However, no one has yet fielded one as a working military weapon. The US Zumwalt class destroyers were originally intended to have them as long range guns, but the cost of the tungsten projectiles was prohibitive and conventional guns were substituted.

[Vaden]

Hmmmm. The only railgun I knew anything about was the one being developed by Raytheon. The last update I read about it was that it wasn’t going forward due to technical difficulties and/or expense. If Musk works on one, it will be a while before it is available to use.