Go Navy!

[rpm]

http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/...266345791.html

Navy unveils new railguns to the public. They will be gamechangers.

SAN DIEGO – Navy officials unveiled two prototype weapons Tuesday that have been cloaked in secrecy for years, and are capable of firing seven times the speed of sound.

They are electromagnetic railguns, developed by the Office of Naval Research.

A railgun can fire a projectile up to 5,600 miles per hour – about six times faster than a bullet from a handgun – at a range of up to 110 miles, Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder said.

It delivers up to 32 megajoules of energy.

“Literally it is like taking a huge freight train and going through the wall that's a few feet to my left at over 100 miles an hour. Right through that wall,” said Klunder, the Chief of Naval Research.

The Navy showed off two working prototypes aboard the USS Millinocket at Naval Base San Diego. They fire by sending an electrical pulse across metal rails to create electromagnetic force. There's nothing explosive inside or out.

“That means sailors no longer have to handle propelling charges and the safety and liability issues related to that,” said John Perry of BAE Systems, which developed the prototype the Navy has chosen to pursue.

Each projectile costs about $25,000, Klunder said. That’s about 100 times less than a conventional missile. And there's another advantage.

“We only have so many [missiles] on our ships. I can put hundreds and hundreds of these projectiles on our naval vessels with that gun system,” he said.

The Navy will mount a railgun on a Joint High Speed Vessel in 2016 for testing. The weapons could be rolled out for use as soon as the following year, Klunder said.

The railgun will complement but not replace conventional missiles, Klunder said. Missiles can travel about twice as far.

But Klunder predicts railguns will be an important deterrent.

“We think that it is part of our future,” he said. “And we think that it truly is going to make our adversaries very, very nervous in the future.”

[Rich46yo]

I think the eventual plan will include GPS and Laser guided projectiles. And this is just the beginning with a lot being spent on more efficient power generation. In the next 20 to 30 I wouldnt be surprised if these rail guns will be not only guided but will have ranges in excess of 200 miles. Between them, Lasers, and advanced Standard missiles and radar systems the Chinese will find their Ballistic missile threat to our navy is vastly over stated. It already is actually.

[Serenity]

Hooyah! 

[Swoop]

I wonder why the Navy chose to mount in on a passenger ferry....?

[Rich46yo]

I wonder why the Navy chose to mount in on a passenger ferry....?

Must have something to do with power generation. Its a new wave ship so it must be able to handle the juice necessary.

[rpm]

Those were just demo models for the press and not fired from that ship. I would imagine they will be mounted on littoral ships first.

[Skyguns MKII]

I wonder why the Navy chose to mount in on a passenger ferry....?

probably going down the LA river soon

[Serenity]

Those were just demo models for the press and not fired from that ship. I would imagine they will be mounted on littoral ships first.

My bet is the Zumwalt.

[Scherf]

If it's all-electric, what's all the firey-flamey stuff?

[DrEvilVoice]"Plas-maaaa?"[/DrEvilVoice]

Seriously, what is it?

[flight17]

Please, they unveiled this back in 2009 when Transformers 2 came out...

But there are navy videos of them being tested on youtube from a couple of years back.

This technology will be what brings back battle ships!

[Rich46yo]

This technology will be what brings back battle ships!

Nothing will bring back the BBs. We even canceled the Zumwalt DDs after building 3 ,which are only 15,000 tons, so why would we bring back a BB at 55,000 tons with a crew of 2800?

I doubt we'll ever see a surface combatant over 10,000 tons again. Or a crew over 250 for it.

[Scherf]

If it's all-electric, what's all the firey-flamey stuff?

[DrEvilVoice]"Plas-maaaa?"[/DrEvilVoice]

By firey-flamey stuff, I mean the stuff in this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6sAUHwTP4A

Seriously, what is it?