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A missile punch at bullet prices
Dahlgren demonstrates electromagnetic rail gun
Date published: 1/17/2007
By MICHAEL ZITZ New VIDEO released: Click here to see the gun test-fired
Normally, new weaponry tends to make defense more expensive. But the Navy likes to say its new railgun delivers the punch of a missile at bullet prices. A demonstration of the futuristic and comparatively inexpensive weapon yesterday at the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren had Navy brass smiling. The weapon, which was successfully tested in October at the King George County base, fires nonexplosive projectiles at incredible speeds, using electricity rather than gun powder. The technology could increase the striking range of U.S. Navy ships more than tenfold by the year 2020.
"It's pretty amazing capability, and it went off without a hitch," said Capt. Joseph McGettigan, commander of NSWC Dahlgren Division. "The biggest thing is it's real--not just something on the drawing board," he said. The railgun works by sending electric current along parallel rails, creating an electromagnetic force so powerful it can fire a projectile at tremendous speed. Because the gun uses electricity and not gunpowder to fire projectiles, it's safer, eliminating the possibility of explosions on ships and vehicles equipped with it. Instead, a powerful pulse generator is used. The prototype fired at Dahlgren is only an 8-megajoule electromagnetic device, but the one to be used on Navy ships will generate a massive 64 megajoules. Current Navy guns generate about 9 megajoules of muzzle energy. The railgun's 200 to 250 nautical-mile range will allow Navy ships to strike deep in enemy territory while staying out of reach of hostile forces. Rear Adm. William E. "Bill" Landay, chief of Naval Research, said Navy railgun progress from the drawing board to reality has been rapid. "A year ago, this was [just] a good idea we all wanted to pursue," he said. Elizabeth D'Andrea of the Office of Naval Research said a 32-megajoule lab gun will be delivered to Dahlgren in June. Charles Garnett, project director, called the projectile fired by the railgun "a supersonic bullet," and the weapon itself is "a very simple device."
Date published: 1/17/2007
A Former Star Warrior's View
(posted by
Hop
, Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)
As a former "Star Warrior," working on everything from rail guns to e-beams and lasers in the 70s, I can offer this observation: nothing we have been able to make (nuclear excepted) packs more power per unit volume than chemical explosives. Energy on target is not decisive. Momentum on target is, and that's what you get with a heavy HE warhead. Rail guns have a short time-of-flight, but deliver little momentum to the target, which is okay for destroying missles in flight but not standing buildings.
real use
(posted by
terrybrookman
, Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)
The real firing platform will be in orbit and with the speeds you get in a vacuum plus firing into a gravity well you can hit anything on the planet or flying above it. The projectiles could be of any configuration solid with an ablative coating that could reach ground level as iron plasma traveling at two hundred thousand feet per second ro something like a shotgun shell that would burst into a cloud if iron plasma pellets traveling at the same speeds. You could hit a missile in first stage lift,
16 inch nava gun
(posted by
Limey
, Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)
A 3000 pound projectile at muzzle velocity of 2800 fps gives muzzle energy of 495 Megajoules. Problem of solid projectiles is small radius of lethality, a miss at long range is no better than one at short range.
Nitpickin'
(posted by
phantomanalyst
, Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)
Buck Rogers, in the Philip F Nowlan novel, used a rocket
pistol (like a Gyrojet). Using electricity doesn't 'eliminate
the possibility of explosions' just reduce it; if a gun with that
muzzle velocity suffers structural failure on firing, what will
happen will be an explosion. If the power from the pulse
generator is shorted to the ship's structure before firing in
an uncontrolled fashion, BANG. Note there is a problem
also with emitting massive EM bursts if enemies are trying
to locate you.
Questions...
(posted by
geracitano
, Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)
A nautical mile is 6075 feet, whereas a statute mile is 5280 feet. So 200 nautical miles is about 230 miles.
Current 16inch naval guns fire 3000lb shells at 2800fps, which is equivalent to a muzzle velocity of over 1900mph. Wind resistance is going to slow it down from there. But the whole purpose of developing a rail gun is to overcome the velocity limitations of chemical propellant. Which clearly, according to this article, it does, and does well.
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