Article

2008-02-01 Science & Technology

Navy Tests High-Powered Electromagnetic Railgun

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Posted by Pancho Uninemble1793 2008-02-01 08:56|| || Front Page|| [11130 views ] Top

#1 ...Take THAT , 12th century Jihadi scum. We're getting ready to kill you with weapons your faith refuses to even admit can exist.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2008-02-01 12:30|| 2008-02-01 12:30|| Front Page Top

#2 Do the Israelis make cars? Maybe we can lend this thing to then to shoot Jew Buicks into Gaza...

Posted by tu3031 2008-02-01 12:32|| 2008-02-01 12:32|| Front Page Top

#3 The background story to military railguns is also very interesting.

Several technical breakthroughs suddenly made it possible. For example, the capacitor needed to store the energy, just a few years ago, would have had to have been so large that you needed a railroad flatcar to carry it. But it has been reduced to the size of a large suitcase.

More problematic is the inductor, producing a magnetic field so powerful that unshielded, it might make the hull of the ship "meet in the middle", which is not recommended in the tech manual.

Then all that energy flows into a thin conductive diaphragm, like a drumhead, behind the projectile. This vaporizes it and turn it into a "conductive plasma".

The projectile itself is usually an advanced ceramic, which in some railguns is cylindrical with blunt ends, aerodynamics being completely different at 7km/sec or so.

When the field artillery version hit a target tank, at such speed, the *surface tension* of steel comes into play. The hull of the tank acts like it was made of ice or glass, hit by a bullet and shattering.

Posted by Anonymoose 2008-02-01 12:34|| 2008-02-01 12:34|| Front Page Top

#4 if I were an enemy tanker, and my hull shattered, that would get my attention. At least til the shock wave made me into a pink cloud

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2008-02-01 14:23|| 2008-02-01 14:23|| Front Page Top

#5 A better picture.

Posted by ed 2008-02-01 14:57|| 2008-02-01 14:57|| Front Page Top

#6 reduced to the size of a large suitcase.

More car sized. Try about 3000 pounds just for the capacitors.

Posted by ed 2008-02-01 15:09|| 2008-02-01 15:09|| Front Page Top

#7 That would be a fairly large suitcase.

Posted by Excalibur 2008-02-01 16:04|| 2008-02-01 16:04|| Front Page Top

#8 Why all the smoke?

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2008-02-01 16:09|| 2008-02-01 16:09|| Front Page Top

#9 I'm guessing friction from the projectile and barrel, plasma from electrical arcing, and Mach 7.5 air friction ablation of the projectile.

Posted by ed 2008-02-01 16:44|| 2008-02-01 16:44|| Front Page Top

#10 And to note.. eventually the Navy plans on deploying a 64 MJ variant that can hit targets at 200 nautical miles away. To put this in perspective the current generation of 5in guns onboard vessels achieves a muzzle energy of around 10 MJ. ERGM (Extended Range Guided Munition) and LRLAP (Long Range Land Attack Projectile) may gain between 18-33 MJ eventually. To put this further into perspective the above mentioned weapons would at their terminal phase deliver between 2 and 8 MJ on target respectively, compared to approximately 17 MJ on the target even at 200+ nautical miles for the railgun.

Posted by Valentine 2008-02-01 17:30|| 2008-02-01 17:30|| Front Page Top

#11 TOPIX/OTHER > NAVY BREAKS RAIL GUN RECORD.

US GMD/BATTLESPACE BMD > NAVY > AEGIS + RAIL GUNS + ARMED LR UAV + SUPER-PHALANX. Hybrid/Arsenal Ships? Dirigibles?

Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-02-01 17:40|| 2008-02-01 17:40|| Front Page Top

#12 ed: I was thinking the artillery sized rail gun. Of course the naval version is a heck of a lot more in every dimension. However, again by comparison, you can imagine how enormous an old style capacitor would have to be.

Posted by Anonymoose 2008-02-01 19:05|| 2008-02-01 19:05|| Front Page Top

#13 Hang on - this is the tip of the iceberg. The real stuff the public knows nothing about...

Posted by CB 2008-02-01 19:06|| 2008-02-01 19:06|| Front Page Top

#14 yep, just imagine what a bigger prototype could do to a fly-ash-ridden Piece of Shit dam......

never mind

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2008-02-01 19:15|| 2008-02-01 19:15|| Front Page Top

#15 When do we get a LEOport?

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2008-02-01 19:20|| 2008-02-01 19:20|| Front Page Top

#16 How far is Mecca from the ocean?
Just askin'

Posted by Rambler">Rambler 2008-02-01 19:22|| 2008-02-01 19:22|| Front Page Top

#17 CHINESE MIL FORUM > PRAVDA - USA ABSOLUTELY DEFENSELESS FROM ATTACK BY RUSSIA OR CHINA. CMF Poster - argues that China should perhaps nuke one or two cities in Mexico instead to cause Mexi massive/overwhelming refugee flood into USA.

ALso from CMF > ANALYSIS [UPI]: CHINA BEATS WEST IN AFRICA + TAIWAN LANDS ON THE SPRATLYS + CHINA'D EXPANDING NAVAL PRESENCE TROUBLES NEIGHBORS. TOPIX > CHINA CALLS FOR MORE TRADE, MILITARY COOPERATION WITH INDIA, [smaller]ASIAN STATES.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-02-01 19:38|| 2008-02-01 19:38|| Front Page Top

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