Navy Will Build Electromagnetic Gun Test Site

The U.S. Navy is preparing to break ground on a program dedicated to testing the science behind electromagnetic rail guns.

The Navy will begin the construction of a new building devoted to the project this summer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren, Va.

The Navy said it hopes it can develop an electromagnetic rail gun by 2010, and possibly deploy it aboard the electric-powered DD-X destroyer. Rail guns require a pulse power system to get instant electrical charges needed to accelerate projectiles to hypersonic velocities. Its rapid flight time and 200-kilometer range make these guns a tempting option for future naval weapons.

Researchers at Dahlgren will be studying the power supply, pulse forming networks and the rails themselves, said Naval Sea Systems Command spokesman David Caskey.


www.nationaldefensemagazine.org...

Hmm very interesting, however when they say 2010, what they actually mean is they aint gonna anounce they have completed it until then. Supposidly the government is about 50 years more advanced than they let on :s Still interesting article.

yup - they even say "the basic physics have been around for 80 years."

I wouldn't suprised to at all if these things were completed in the 80's under SDI. Hell - maybe we even have these things looking down on our enemies right now

I wouldn't be surprised if we in fact have something more powerful than this in our arsenal. And something this powerful would more than likely not be deployed until it was needed.

I am sure that they have a working model already, now they are going to test super models most likely. I thought roller coasters have been using this tech for 5 years already in a lower speed sort of way.

THe Navy has been planning for this for some time. The DD-X will have a distributive electrical system that will alow it to divert power from say propulsion to the rail gun, fire some rounds off then get underwaya gain. etc.

It would be a awesum weapon IMHO. Wonder if a smaller version could be used for point defence on the ship?

I wonder if it would even make much noise because there is no explosion to propel the round?

Originally posted by bzap
I wonder if it would even make much noise because there is no explosion to propel the round?

Thats a really good point. Makes sence, however the round cutting through the air will make a huge racket. My granfather once talked about hearing the 16" rounds from the US battleships and he said it sounded like ripping linen as it flew through the air.

The only noise would be from the sonic boom. Te best thing about the EMG is it has no recoil allowing the mounts to be extremely light.

I saw a very small version of this principle in 1986, when a professor was showing how a 10 cm aluminium ring could be thrown in the air by the electro-magnet under it, so I think the US Navy must be a little more advanced than this.

About this not having recoil, if something is thrown one way, you will always have recoil.

With a bit of upgrading a Mass driver would work well too! American antigravity has one that they built awhile ago, and from the looks of it, it can pack a punch! Imagine what a larger model could do!

www.americanantigravity.com...

Ive seen many technical documents on the internet on the workings of the rail gun, but not by the navy. The ballistic projectiles are pretty cool looking actually.

I wonder rail guns lead to the creation of new battle ships with rail guns in place of normal 16 inch guns. Three rail guns in a row with a 200 mile range would be a powerful weapon.

Originally posted by ShadowXIX
I wonder rail guns lead to the creation of new battle ships with rail guns in place of normal 16 inch guns. Three rail guns in a row with a 200 mile range would be a powerful weapon.

Shadow, I think this is exactly what the Navy has in mind for this weapon. Given the potential velocity of the gun, It may also have a point defence aplication as well. 200 Miles. Talk about standoff bombardment. Even the Iowa class 16" or the 18" of the yamato Class did not have that kind of range.

"250-nautical mile rail gun could fit into existing 5-inch gun mounts"
Wow, so would a rail gun put into a 16-inch gun mount have something like 800 nautical miles (my math sucks) or even greater ranges with better power sources?

Perhaps some of those old battleships will be taken out of moth balls and retro fitted with rail guns.

Originally posted by ShadowXIX
"250-nautical mile rail gun could fit into existing 5-inch gun mounts"
Wow, so would a rail gun put into a 16-inch gun mount have something like 800 nautical miles (my math sucks) or even greater ranges with better power sources?

Perhaps some of those old battleships will be taken out of moth balls and retro fitted with rail guns.

Increased bore width does not translate into a similar distance increase. Launching 16 inch shells would require a whole lot more energy than 5 inch ones.
But, just imagine if you could fire shells 800 miles

Does anyone remember hearing a story about an M1 Abrams having its armor pierced by an 'unknown object' in Iraq? I remember reading about this and hearing that the 'projectile' punched a small hole completely through the tank. Someone suggested that only a rail gun could generate sufficient projectile velocity to accomplish such a task and that a home-grown system could be floating around somewhere in Iraq.

Actually, I just came across this thread:

Gauss Gun

Maybe it's a gauss gun that I'm thinking of, but based on this thread, the technology is of the sort that someone could build such a device at home. Anyone remember stories of the pierced Abrams?

[edit on 25-8-2004 by chaosrain]

I had a question about rail guns I was wondering if anyone could answer.

Heres a example to explain my question

Rail gun1

Power 5MW
Projectile 5 inch 1kilo
Gun length 10 ft

Rail gun2

Power 5MW
Projectile 5 inch 1kilo
Gun length 20 ft

Would gun 2 fire a longer distance since the power you put into the gun have more time the effect the projectile? Or is the power the only factor for distance?

Correct, a longer barrel would excelerate a projectile to higher speeds ( increasing range ) as the magnetic force is acting on it longer. What the increase in distance is I don't know.

[edit on 25-8-2004 by mad scientist]

Cool thanks for the info mad scientist