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.
Wouldn't the hull be Farady shieding for the reactor, assuming the reactor is isolated from the hull?
Wonder how they propose to shield the rest of the ship's electronics from that massive, surging magnetic field?
"No, but I bet the electrical system takes up a bit more room."
Yep.
Very large banks of capacitors to provide the energy.
Unless there is a need for an extremely high speed projectile for some reason I don't understand I'm not sure this is anything more than a fun toy.
One shot: nice shooting.Two shots: well, maybe.
Three shots: missum buck.
Roughly, that is 3 miles per second! The coming combat missions are going to be fought literally 'over the horizon.'
It seems as if these projectiles are going to have the destructive energy of bombs.
How do we protect our ships if the enemy gets one?
Can you repeat that post in common language? I'm one of those old people who think of plasma as being our blood cell carrier.
Maybe you can collect Pepsi points to get it... like that guy who tried to get the Harrier Jet for 7 million Pepsi points (remember that commercial?)
As with most hi-tech gadgets, the main problem appears to be an adequate power source. Nothing that can't be resolved with enough time and determination.
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