Navy Declassifies Rail Gun Test Fire

In the latest demonstration of sci-fi weaponry coming off the drawing board, the Navy has declassified this demo of a prototype railgun, which uses electricity rather than gunpowder to propel a projectile along magnetic rails.

Source

I have been hearing about rail gun technology for years. It is fascinating and scary at the same time that they have a working model.

However, this also brings to mind the thought that what we see as declassified materials now only really show where we were in the developement process x number of years ago. Can you imagine what is currently in development or on the drawing board?

-saige-

reply to post by saige45


I was just thinking about having rail hand guns and then i stumbled on this post. What exactly is the "rail technology" I mean does anyone have a way to break it down in its most basic form? Can it be modified to project anything? If this form of weaponry exists possibilities are endless and maybe it can replace or phase out gunpowder, then what?

reply to post by aBuck

In its basic form it acts/is like a solenoid,just a very large and more complicated one.

"In engineering, the term solenoid may also refer to a variety of transducer devices that convert energy into linear motion".

en.wikipedia.org...

Peace

When ever the military declassifies something it tends to mean they've already through testing and are ready to field it.

Originally posted by Starrunner
When ever the military declassifies something it tends to mean they've already through testing and are ready to field it.

Or as is more the rule for the military doing such a thing, the technology is found to be of limited usefulness, outdated already or a cover for some more important project.

I would opt for any or all three posssibilities here, as a weapon for use on the earth's surface, it would need a guidance system for over-the-horizon use. The days of long-range artillary are gone due for several reasons, one being the lack of specific targeting as missiles such as the cruise missile can do. Battleships may seem like the possible place for rail guns, but battleships themselves are out-dated machine of WWI an WWII, now subject to annihlation by standoff a/c missile launches, orbital weapons or surface fired sub-orbital missiles.

The enormous electrical energy used to charge a rail gun, if one were thinking of a space platform weapon, would be better spent in powering a high-energy chemical laser weapon that can be computer controlled and would provide instant results.

Here is a video of a test of this weapon.

reply to post by ElectricUniverse


Harald Puthoff, Ph.D, the same guy that proved Remote Viewing was at the University of Texas working on developing the rail gun as of a couple of years ago. Maybe he is still at it. Frankly, I think he was doing something more cloak-and-daggerish, because he has written some interesting stuff about UFO power plants and zero energy.

Originally posted by Lexx790
reply to post by aBuck

 

In its basic form it acts/is like a solenoid,just a very large and more complicated one.

"In engineering, the term solenoid may also refer to a variety of transducer devices that convert energy into linear motion".

en.wikipedia.org...

Peace

Thanks for sharing, I was actually checking this out and wanted to share how it's all about making a magnetic field with a solenoid .

Hmm I saw that video several months ago. Perhaps even up to half a year.
I am not sure, but I think it was on liveleak, or in some kind of documentary about future weapons. Not sure which, but one of the two.

I guess the media takes it up now again, since all those videos China are putting up on the interwebs to show off their new mighty military power.

Tanks and masses.
www.liveleak.com...

Outnumber.
www.liveleak.com...

Nuclear boasting.
www.liveleak.com...

122mm Multiple Launch Rocket System
www.liveleak.com...

Originally posted by Aliensun
Or as is more the rule for the military doing such a thing, the technology is found to be of limited usefulness, outdated already or a cover for some more important project.

Good point, one I over looked

Originally posted by Aliensun
Or as is more the rule for the military doing such a thing, the technology is found to be of limited usefulness, outdated already or a cover for some more important project.

I would opt for any or all three posssibilities here, as a weapon for use on the earth's surface, it would need a guidance system for over-the-horizon use. The days of long-range artillary are gone due for several reasons, one being the lack of specific targeting as missiles such as the cruise missile can do. Battleships may seem like the possible place for rail guns, but battleships themselves are out-dated machine of WWI an WWII, now subject to annihlation by standoff a/c missile launches, orbital weapons or surface fired sub-orbital missiles.

The enormous electrical energy used to charge a rail gun, if one were thinking of a space platform weapon, would be better spent in powering a high-energy chemical laser weapon that can be computer controlled and would provide instant results.

If my memory serves me correctly, there are no active battleships in any of the world’s navies. As you said, battleships are relics and tactics have changed since the days of off-shore bombardment. Instead of using a hammer to attack enemies, tactics are designed to use a scalpel. In other words, minimizing civilian casualties in any skirmish is the overall aim.

But I think you have a good point with regards to your possibilities:

Limited usefulness - The weapon (as tested) is limited. There is no guidance, although coupled with a smart projectile it could be a very useful weapon with regards to being a scalpel. However, another limiting factor will have to be its overall size and support requirements. There did not appear to be much recoil from the assembly but because we don't know anything about how or where the system was mounted (I would assume a land base) we probably could not make an accurate determination to its feasibility as a mobile weapon.

Outdated - While the technology is relatively new, the theory behind the technology is not. How this becomes an argument is dependent upon your use of the technology and its target. If (for example) you are looking to replace rifles and side arms with this type of technology (not considering the power requirements and better uses for that power), then this type of technology could make sense. However, with more focus on non-lethal weapons, it becomes outdated from an ideology standpoint. However, we are talking about replacing an already outdated (but proven) technology (gunpowder or explosively propelled projectiles) with a newer technology (magnetically or electrically propelled projectiles).

Cover for some more important project - This (of the three) seems like the most feasible. While the rail gun itself is very impressive, the practicality of it seems to be its limiting factor. However, the research from building, testing and perfecting the rail technology could help spearhead other projects.

Primarily this is why I originally posted. I mean, if this is what they have declassified, what other projects could be in the works.

-saige-

reply to post by Aliensun
Just did a quick check -

With the decommissioning of the last Iowa-class ships, no battleships remain in service (including in reserve) with any navy worldwide. A number are preserved as museum ships, either afloat or in drydock.

Source

From the same source the last Iowa-class ships were decommisioned in 1991 and 1992 (they were the USS Wisconsin and USS Missouri, respectively).

-saige-

reply to post by aBuck


Sorry, but you and Lexx790 are thinking of a coil gun which uses the magnetic field created by a coil. Rail guns use two rails and a conductive projectile that contacts and shorts across the rails. How Rail Guns Work

Here is a site with lots of info: Powerlabs railgun research

Originally posted by aBuck
reply to post by saige45

 

I was just thinking about having rail hand guns and then i stumbled on this post. What exactly is the "rail technology" I mean does anyone have a way to break it down in its most basic form? Can it be modified to project anything? If this form of weaponry exists possibilities are endless and maybe it can replace or phase out gunpowder, then what?

It is basically the same technology used in the roller coaster rides , mag lift trains and so on . It uses super strong electro mag eats to propel and object to hypersonic speeds in a very short distance . They have them in space
I am willing to bet, that is where they would be most effective launching a heavy projectile towards earth , it would gather so much speed the kinetic energy would be akin to a small nuke.

This video is quite old, I remember seeing a similar demonstration over 2 years ago.. It was on that same test range but I dont know if it was the same footage. I cant imagine what the military has in terms of weaponry, whenever they reveal something to the public you know they have something 100x more powerful that we dont know about.

Weird they declassified this in the movie called Eraser. Beware of Railgun rifles.

www.youtube.com...

There was quote from this movie "The biggest railgun ever made was on a battleship." Something like that.

I made a rail gun for a science fair project in high school.

It was pretty cool, except the people from the power plant who were there didn't have a clue about what it was, or how it worked.

It was a very simple design which consisted of several metal magnetic balls. There was a series of ports which has a magnetic ball touching a barrier, made of a magnet. The first ball was released which was attracted towards the first port magnet. When that ball hits the port magnet it transfers its energy through the magnet and into the ball on the other side.

As long as the force of the initial ball is stronger than the magnetic force of the port holding the next ball, then all the balls will be able to be freed from their magnetic ports.

As it goes down the line the balls pick up more, and more energy. Once they are released from their port, by the passing of energy through the magnet from the previous ball, they have their initial energy, but the magnet at the next port is attracting it, which accelerates the ball. Now the ball has it's original inertia, plus the energy of the magnet pulling it.

This makes each ball go faster than the one before. Depending on the placement of the magnets, their strength, and the distance between ports determines how fast the final projectile goes.

I had the last ball launching a good distance with only a table top demonstration, and I had it strong enough to puncture things like paper, or a soda can. Luckily the school didn't realize I had a pretty strong weapon

Unfortunately for my demonstration I used permanent magnets of all the same strength. A much better version would be to use electromagnets, and connect sensors to the track so that the ports can be turned on, or off, and the strength can be much greater.

Pretty cool project Xieon. I did mine on Fungi.