Navy has workable Railgun

[SteveBailey]

I've also read the the rate of fire on these things can be unbelievably high, restricted only by the limitations of the mechanics of loading the projectiles.

[lukster]

Originally posted by Chairboy
Hi Lukster,

Looks like either atmospheric vapor or some ablation because it's traveling so fast.  It's nothing compared to the big smoke plume of a modern anti-aircraft missile launching, and I'm pretty sure it'd be essentially invisible at altitude.  Also, the missiles might take 20-30 seconds to get up to the flight levels, while a railgun projectile, leaving the barrel at high mach, might take a couple seconds.

You may be right but it looks like it has a trailing flame in that pic. Wouldn't be surprising considering it's speed.

[Chairboy]

No self respecting military would buy any weapon that doesn't emit flames, it's all about style.  

[lukster]

Originally posted by Chairboy
No self respecting military would buy any weapon that doesn't emit flames, it's all about style.  

 

[Debonair]

hear is teh other pix.

OMG that d00d thinx he gonna catch teh projectile:rofl
usually a boffin that confident aint crazy:noid

[Cthulhu]

Originally posted by soda72
Have they ever tested/developed any missile using stealth technolgy?

We (Lockheed)  have been incorporated stealth features into missiles for years. It's done both to reduce detection ranges, and to minimize the effectiveness of any defensive systems. (ex. Phalanx can't hit what it can't see)

Also, one of the biggest advantages of rail guns over conventional "chemical" guns is the ability to have lower peak accelerations while still having HUGE muzzle velocities. This is a big plus, because conventional guns can produce accelerations over 50,000g's, which is hell on the sensitive electronics which are essential to terminally guided munitions.

[Ack-Ack]

you can make your own rail gun using a yard ruler, some magnets and ball bearings.


ack-ack

[Viking]

Originally posted by StarOfAfrica2
The prototype is 8 MEGAjoules, whereas the functional gun they will have delivered for testing next will be 64 freakin megajoules.  As a comparison, current navy guns deliver about the equivalent of a 9 megajoule gun in muzzle energy.

According to someone on that site a 16 inch naval gun produces 495 Megajoules at the muzzle. 64 don't sound like all that much.

[Chairboy]

Instead of volt counting, look at the calculated performance.  Any of those guns fire a hypersonic combat slug 200 miles?

[Viking]

What good is a hypersonic slug at 200 miles? You'd actually have to directly hit the target to do any damage, and I highly doubt the projectile will still be traveling at hypersonic speeds at that range.

[Brenjen]

When I was younger the military was experimenting with rail gun tech for use in space against satellites (or anything in the vacuum of space that was a target) & they had a brilliant write up about the challenges the weapon would have to overcome to be effective in the atmosphere. I wish I could recall the source for the article, I want to say it was in Naval proceedings magazine, but I read that often & it may be stuck in my memory as the source when it wasn't.

 An electromagnetic gun firing a metal puck is neato & all, but I'm not sure what function it's going to serve that would make it worth more than experimentation. It would be a basis for some future weapon systems when nano-technology catches up I would imagine. A backpack on a soldier full of projectiles, no cases or firing charge to take up space, just the projectiles themselves & a near unlimited rate of fire would be the target destination if I were in charge; good thing I'm not or I'd use unobtainium for everything & the military would end up with nothing probably lol

[rabbidrabbit]

if you could get targeting sorted out it would be quite effective.

[Chairboy]

What do you mean?  The idea is for these rounds to have GPS guidance, what targeting needs to be worked out?  It's tried and true tech in artillery, and the plan is to use it here too.

[Elfie]

Originally posted by Chairboy
What do you mean?  The idea is for these rounds to have GPS guidance, what targeting needs to be worked out?  It's tried and true tech in artillery, and the plan is to use it here too.

Iirc the artillery round that has the GPS guidance is the Excalibur round. Last I heard Excalibur wasn't going to combat units for a while yet. The tests so far have been very positive though. So not exactly tried and true tech just yet, but it's getting close

[rabbidrabbit]

You need a rapid way of timely communication of targeting info to the round.  If you get GPS working or better yet.. a dynamic designator to hit moving targets you have a powerful tool.  This is especially true if you can get the ord on target within a few mins instead of hours.