The Navy’s experimental railgun

[observor 69]

The Navy’s experimental railgun fires a hardened projectile at staggering velocity—a battlefield meteorite with the power to blow holes in enemy ships and level terrorist camps

By Julian E. Barnes

AHLGREN, Va.—A warning siren bellowed through the concrete bunker of a top-secret Naval facility where U.S. military engineers prepared to demonstrate a weapon for which there is little defense.

Officials huddled at a video screen for a first look at a deadly new supergun that can fire a 25-pound projectile through seven steel plates and leave a 5-inch hole.

The weapon is called a railgun and requires neither gunpowder nor explosive. It is powered by electromagnetic rails that accelerate a hardened projectile to staggering velocity—a battlefield meteorite with the power to one day transform military strategy, say supporters, and keep the U.S. ahead of advancing Russian and Chinese weaponry.

In conventional guns, a bullet begins losing acceleration moments after the gunpowder ignites. The railgun projectile gains more speed as it travels the length of a 32-foot barrel, exiting the muzzle at 4,500 miles an hour, or more than a mile a second.

“This is going to change the way we fight,” said U.S. Navy Adm. Mat Winter, the head of the Office of Naval Research.

More at link

 

[Lumber]

“This is going to change the way we fight,” said U.S. Navy Adm. Mat Winter, the head of the Office of Naval Research.

More at link

I feel like by the time they get the wear and tear issue sorted out, or fill the requirement of having the projectiles "guided", some other technology will make using a rail gun superfluous.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

If it works out, the number of warshots a ship can carry is significant and you don't have to worry about propellant. I suspect dropping velocities for the majority of the rounds fired will vastly increase the life of the gun. Not every shot will require the full velocity and reduced velocity might mean being able to use existing shells in a new driving band arrangement.

 

[Lumber]

If it works out, the number of warshots a ship can carry is significant and you don't have to worry about propellant. I suspect dropping velocities for the majority of the rounds fired will vastly increase the life of the gun. Not every shot will require the full velocity and reduced velocity might mean being able to use existing shells in a new driving band arrangement.

Agreed, but I've always been under the assumption that these were not going to be a replacement for the 57mm/76mm/5" naval guns, but rather a supplement to (and possible replacement) of anti-ship and land-attack missiles. In these roles, I'd need to see what kind of damage they are expected to do. Can one of their rounds fires at "reduced velocities" provide the same destructive power as a Tomahawk? What about a Harpoon?

Personally, I see these being better employed in the NGS role. If they are as destructive as a Tomahawk, then you could carry a far greater number of land attack munitions, and they will be far harder to detect, being so small and coming in so fast.

In the ASM role I think, as everything stands, they are already superfluous. Missiles might be easier to shoot out of the sky then a the small rounds being fired by these rail guns, but as it stands we have a hard enough time shooting down missiles, so wouldn't you rather have something with an explosive warhead and a proven terminal guidance system?