Warporn: New Navy railgun sets records for megajoules, awesomeness (w/ video)

[Wretched Excess]

Warporn: New Navy railgun sets records for megajoules, awesomeness

Ace had this yesterday but I hadn’t recovered from the awesomeness shock upon viewing it until just a few minutes ago. Hence the delay in posting. Anyway: 32 megajoules. What does that mean?

    The Navy’s eventual goal is a ship-mounted railgun that can fire a projectile more than 200 miles at speeds of more than 8,000 feet per second. Context: The Navy’s current MK 45 five-inch gun has a range of just 20 miles.

“But wait, AP,” you say, “I thought a railgun worked purely through electricity. What’s all that combustible stuff coming off the back end?” Answer: It’s pieces of the slug, disintegrating with such tremendous energy that the air around them bursts into flame. I … have to go lie down again.

linky

video at the link.

there is no explosive warhead.  the projectile does all of it's damage with sheer kinetic energy.

[Chris_]

I saw the PM article earlier today but this is the firs time I've seen a video.  Good stuff.   

[Wretched Excess]

I have been following the railgun development for a while now.  here is a pretty good wrap-up.

The railgun uses no explosives to launch projectiles. It works by sending electric current along parallel rails, creating an electromagnetic force so powerful it can fire a projectile at tremendous speed at targets more than 200 nautical miles away.

Since it uses a pulse generator instead of gunpowder, the railgun could eliminate the possibility of explosions on ships and vehicles equipped with it.

The Navy hopes to eventually produce a 64-megajoule railgun--about seven times more powerful than the guns it has now. One comparison equated the kinetic energy of projectiles from a 64-megajoule gun to a locomotive traveling at 60 mph.

Navy officials hailed yesterday's test as a success toward developing the weapon they hope will eventually become the standard gun on its ships.

"This technology here is a huge leap forward in naval weaponry," said Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations.

Roughead told Dahlgren personnel that he wants to give sailors and Marines the technology they need to win every time. Developing the railgun is a way to do just that and defy those who said it could never be done.

"I never ever ever want to see a sailor or Marine in a fair fight," Roughead said. "I want them to have the advantage."

Navy researchers would like to have a fully functional railgun weapon system aboard a deployable ship by 2025. That goal comes with various obstacles.

Challenges include shrinking the gun and power source to fit on a ship, making the bore of the gun last for thousands of shots and making sure humans and other technology are not negatively affected by electromagnetic pulses. Projectile materials will have to stand up to extreme conditions.

"It must not work only here at Dahlgren, it must ultimately show up on a ship," said Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. William Landay III.

The $237 million, five-year railgun program is funded through 2011.

link

[Wretched Excess]

more video

[Crazy Horse]

more video

That's not the rail gun in the video. Looks like a 5"54. However that is the aperature for the rail gun

[Crazy Horse]

The shooting through the target was the rail gun, the other parts were not.

Though if we need clarification we can always ask Logans Papa

[Wretched Excess]

more video

That's not the rail gun in the video. Looks like a 5"54. However that is the aperature for the rail gun

I rechecked, and you are right, of course.  you just can't trust anything you find on the internets, can you?

[vftb]

Here ya go guys, lots of info on the Railgun.

[Wretched Excess]

Here ya go guys, lots of info on the Railgun.

great post!  thanks for the info.

[vftb]

If you guys are interested in interesting weapons, LTGunner does a great WOW (Weapon of the Week) thing over at USMilnet.  Not recruiting, just pointing it out.

[Crazy Horse]

here is a Dahlgren video of the first shot of the 8MJ gun.

I witnessed their third shot.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3774550653880820802&q=rail+gun&total=775&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

[asdf2231]

[vftb]

Did You Say Kitty Cannon??   

[Bob Henneman]

Cool vid! The rail gun program shows real potential. The problem, however, is that the rail guns use so much power that current generators and capacitors can not provide the rapid cycle times needed if rail guns are to become a real world weapon. It is hoped that these problems will be solved in the next few years, allowing them to be test fired off ships by about 2012.