Posted on 07/07/2006 1:12:03 PM PDT by Reaganesque
July 7, 2006 The United States Navy has awarded two contracts for the development of an electro-magnetic gun system capable of deployment on board naval surface combatant ships. The development work preliminary design for an Electro-Magnetic (EM) railgun prototype and the preliminary design of the U.S Navy's 32 megajoule (MJ) Laboratory Launcher. An electro-magnetic railgun uses electrical energy to accelerate projectiles to extreme velocities. Railguns do not require powders or explosives to fire the round and therefore free magazine space for other mission areas. In addition, electro-magnetic guns provide a highly consistent and uniform explosive charge that gives much greater accuracy. Thirty-two megajoule is equivalent to a firing speed of Mach 8 or eight times the speed of sound. This will be an intermediate step on the road to a 64-MJ Tactical System capable of deployment on-board naval surface combatant ships.
The development work includes a US$9.3 million contract from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to develop technologies and preliminary design for an Electro-Magnetic (EM) railgun prototype and a US$5.4M contract from Naval Special Warfare Center-Dahlgren for the design and fabrication of the U.S Navy's 32 megajoule (MJ) Laboratory Launcher.
BAE Systems was selected by ONR to advance to the next phase of the Innovative Naval Prototype Program. Under this 30-month phase, BAE Systems will take the state-of-the-art Electro-Magnetic Railgun technologies through technology maturation and develop a preliminary design of a 32-MJ EM Railgun. Thirty-two megajoule is equivalent to a firing speed of Mach 8 or eight times the speed of sound. This will be an intermediate step on the road to a 64-MJ Tactical System capable of deployment on-board naval surface combatant ships. The design and fabrication of the 32-MJ Laboratory Launcher will serve as a major step towards development of a full-scale tactical EM Gun weapon system for the U.S. Navy.
At Mach 8, a BB could destroy the missile........
The gun is supposed to be on a nuclear powered naval ship. Would an EMP knock out a reactor? I second the call for someone with a bigger brain.
I think they were using the word "explosive" loosely in the second sentence. Basically, what it does is use magnets to accelerate the projectile, not explosion required.
No, but I bet the electrical system takes up a bit more room.
Think of the recoil...
It's much easier with the EM railgun since constant acceleration can be applied over a distance.
With a long enough barrel, you could apply just a 1 G acceleration, and still get enough energy into a projectile to destroy something big.
I just wonder what projectile trajectories are like when traveling at that kind of speed? Also, traveling that fast means you most certainly aren't going to lead a moving target by very much, giving the target very little time to evade.
That'll leave a mark
I remember reading that in early research into rail guns, they would have to be rebuilt after each firing because they would destroy themselves.
Actually it has been considered for a later version of the DDX class vessel.
Except the projectiles won't go through the Wraith shields.
Sure, but there is probably an overall savings since they are basically using nuclear energy instead of chemical energy to throw projectiles. Chemical explosives take up much more room than some rods of U or Pu.
It's also much safer to get rid of all the explosives and just have the reactor. How many ships have sunk themselves because their own magazines went off?
the ultimate Zot!
Vermin
Worked on the darts
Thank you!
You are right, Sid Vermin.
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