U.S. Navy video by John Williams
U.S. Navy engineers at the Office of Naval Research prepared and test-fired a slug from their rail gun in a 2008 test firing. On Friday, December 9, the ONR will attempt to break its own record.
Posted on 12/10/2010 10:49:26 AM PST by Neil E. Wright
U.S. Navy video by John Williams
U.S. Navy engineers at the Office of Naval Research prepared and test-fired a slug from their rail gun in a 2008 test firing. On Friday, December 9, the ONR will attempt to break its own record.
A theoretical dream for decades, the railgun is unlike any other weapon used in warfare. And it's quite real too, as the U.S. Navy has proven in a record-setting test today in Dahlgren, VA.
Rather than relying on a explosion to fire a projectile, the technology uses an electomagnetic current to accelerate a non-explosive bullet at several times the speed of sound. The conductive projectile zips along a set of electrically charged parallel rails and out of the barrel at speeds up to Mach 7.
The result: a weapon that can hit a target 100 miles or more away within minutes.
"It's an over-used term, but it really changes several games," Rear Admiral Nevin P. Carr, Jr., the chief of Naval Research, told FoxNews.com prior to the test.
For a generation raised on shoot-'em-up video games, the word "railgun" invokes sci-fi images of an impossibly destructive weapon annihilating monsters and aliens. But the railgun is nonetheless very real.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
America! It's about
Whoa! How do I get me one of them things?
Huah.
America F*** Yeah! This bad boy was also in Transformers 2...
The Germans already did this in WW2.
And at 11 a.m. today, the Navy produced a 33-megajoule firing -- more than three times the previous record set by the Navy in 2008.
Great Scott!
We must stop this weapon, it gives the American military an unfair advantage over our foes...the rounds will pollute the environment...it’s too expensive...it’s too indiscriminate...it’s too accurate and could be used for assassinations...it’ll negatively effect women and children the hardest...
The Zumwalt destroyer was designed, in part, with the expectation that railgun technology would be available in the near future.
Imagine a stealthy ship that can attack from 100 miles away.
I like the sound of this rail gun. How is it aimed? Could it fire under adverse sea conditions, or in foul weather?
Over and over they talk about it being a non explosive means to propel the projectile (which is also non-explosive) so I have to show my ignorance a little — What is causing all the Flame from the muzzle if there is no powder/explosives being used?
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4454912/navy-tests-electromagnetic-railgun/
I believe its plasma. Sheer speed.
Due to air friction? Just guessing.
Ah, that would make sense at MAch 7.
let’s get one over in Afghanistan and do some practice shots.
That's not the muzzle.
I wonder if the Navy has thought about encasing the 'barrel' and filling it with an inert gas like argon or nitrogen to save on barrel wear.
I know that heat is a huge problem for these weapons -- the rails don't last long because they go through tremendous wear and tear.
The thing exits a vacuum chamber and hits the atmosphere at Mach 7. That will definitely cause a little shock wave - whether it’s the reason for the bloom I don’t know but maybe someone who knows more about it will let us know.
Detailed designs of this new “top secret” railgun soon to be disclosed by Wikileaks...
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