Posted on 01/01/2019 6:48:45 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
The world was shocked when pictures began circulating early last year of a strange, large gun seemingly bolted to the bows of a Chinese amphibious assault ship.
It turned out to be the world’s first naval rail gun. Now it’s been pictured in operation.
A hazy image of the oddly-shaped ship with its oversized gun sailing in the open ocean has been released on China’s tightly controlled social media networks.
It shows the vessel undergoing testing on the open ocean.
If true, it means Beijing has beaten the United States — and the world — to getting the next generation weapon into operational testing.
CHALLENGING CAPABILITY
The Type 072II Yuting-class tank landing ship Haiyangshan has been converted from its previous role to become an experimental testbed. This is likely because its open cargo bay is capable of holding the extensive array of batteries and generators necessary to power the next-generation weapon.
While still no warship, the cannon it carries is a fearsome sign of things to come.
It does away with the heat, pressure and residue of gunpowder-powered cannons.
Instead, it uses intense bursts of energy to build a focused magnetic field capable of flinging out cannon shells at many times the speed of sound.
This gives the gun much greater speed, range — and accuracy — than conventional cannons.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Don’t tell me that the U.S. Navy, once run by the leader of the Queens Navy, (forgotten his name already), is going to use “solar power” for its “railguns”.
I can just hear the radarman yelling, “Captain, there be typhoons”. End of game. End of ship.
Well the balloons and rainbow on the released photograph should give everyone a warm and fuzzy, and put minds at ease.
It could be a electrothermal gun instead of a rail gun. These use fluids pumped by several thousand amps instead of gunpowder. Not as fast as and uses a less power than a rail gun, while producing more velocity than standard guns.
I don't have any info other than what's been posted, but I'd bet good money that, somehow, they're "not doing it right."
Naw, no extension cord. They just loaded the hold with Energizer Bunnies.
While it is clear the Zumwalt class is basically a test bed in the form of a possibly deployable vessel, they did build the infrastructure into the ship electronically to be able to drive a rail gun.
They have an integrated Power System (IPS) that can take 80 MW generated by four marine turboshaft generators, and distribute the power flexibly.
That is a huge amount of power, enough for a railgun, but I suspect they just couldn’t work out the bugs in time to put it aboard, so they have a 155 mm main battery.
Only one country on Earth is batshit crazy enough to start flinging these projectiles at sea before its stabilized...
Well North Korea is also crazy enough, but won’t have the technology till China gives it to them.
Same equipment, same uniforms, different people. An easily understandable mistake.
CC
The USN claimed something like 400 shots out of a given rail setup before retiring it but not necessarily at full power.
Not a coil-gun.
At minimum,there are two parallel electrical rails.
https://scholar.colorado.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1184&context=asen_gradetds
Yep, if they build their ships with the same quality they put into their domestic cars then they won’t be a problem. Probably be dry docked one year out of three for repairs.
Lack of electrical generation or distribution available with older ships. Zumwalt Class probable destination.
The rail-gun projectiles combined with advanced powder guns, such as Naval five-inch and/or 155mm army artillery, deliver about half to two-thirds of the desired capability.
The development of guided rounds may compensate for the ranging issues of the Combustion-Light-Gas-Guns, which preceded development of electric rail-guns. CLGG had a capability of 200 NM, but suffered inconsistent performance operating with pure ballistic rounds.
Re: Looks somewhat short
Same thing I noticed.
If I understand correctly, all the acceleration takes place in the gun barrel.
USA rail guns have much longer barrels.
To take advantage of the rail guns extreme range you need a stable platform that can compensate for roll and pitch. The USN hasn’t solved this yet. Long way to go.
so they have a 155 mm main battery.
—
Isn’t that the battery for which they have no ammo?
I’ll believe the Chinese rail gun is a real threat when I can get one at Harbor Freight.
winner!
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