[Kozak]

I was just thinking that if we developed a high power laser or other beam weapon which requires very large energy supply, that the balance could shift back to the battleship as queen of the sea.

Until the airborne version of the railgun extends the carriers range again....

[LambSlave]

Until the airborne version of the railgun extends the carriers range again....

I don't deny that carrier could regain dominance, but not by airborne rail guns. Think WWI-WWII; planes didn't dominate supersede battleships by carrying 18-inch guns... Currently, this thing is room sized, it dissipates an extra-oridnary amount of heat, and it requires the kind of energy that only a large ship could provide-- sort of analogous to the 14 inch gun of the WWI era, if you will. Aircraft may find a way to beat this, but probably not by outgunning it, and it will probably take a bit of time for this to happen.

[PapaBear3625]

Until the airborne version of the railgun extends the carriers range again....

From the Navy Powerpoint, the naval gun will shoot a 10 kg projectile at 2.5 km/sec. The recoil on that sucker would be a bit much for an airframe

What they want is an indirect-fire capability where the projectile is fired up in a sub-orbital trajectory at mach 7.5, and comes down up to 200 miles away at mach 5, with a 5 minute flight time