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U.S. Navy to Deploy Rail Guns by 2011

Posted by michael on from the warporn dept.

Walter Francis writes "The U.S. Navy has apparently been busy. They have been focusing heavily on the next generation of weapons and propulsion systems, including Microwave, Laser, and Electromagnetic-Kinetic weapons, more commonly known as railguns. What specifically surprised me was the fact that the Navy plans to deploy these systems as early as 2011, on their DD(X) frigates. The range of these rail guns is estimated to be over 250 miles."

5 of 1,172 comments (clear)

  1. Why wait till 2011! by darth_MALL · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Build your own railgun Today! Kids love this one!

  2. Re:steel beams from space? by kiick · · Score: 5, Interesting
    You are talking about a theoretical system called "thor". Basically the idea is that you drop a large crowbar from orbit. The crowbar has just enough brains to wiggle some vanes around to stay on target. The kinetic energy it gains from falling from orbit obliterates the target. No explosives, no radiation, no duds.


    For a fictional view of how devastating this could be, see Niven & Pournelles 'Footfall'.


    The scary part is that we could do this with current technology. It would just be horribly expensive. But once launched, the owner would have the ability to destroy any selected square meter of the Earth's surface, and there's nothing anyone could do about it (aside from shooting down the satellite).

  3. Railgun project link . Video also by DRWHOISME · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Railgun project

  4. Don't forget ricochet.... by DG · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Don't forget ricochet range. A projectile that skipped off the ocean (for example) could wind up somewhere much farther downrange than 30 miles.

    I've seen plain old ordinary machine gun rounds do some amazing and unexpected things. I expect that scales with velocity.

    Interesting point from the article - the author sees this system fitting into existing 5" gun mounts, and sees one gun as being able to deliver equivelent fire as a squadron of F18s. That means destroyers become as powerful as aircraft carriers.

    How about that - the return of the battleship.

    DG

    --
    Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
  5. Re:In other news... by randyest · · Score: 5, Interesting

    All kinds of funny in the replies (I read them all at +1 -- pity me), but not much serious.

    For example -- even the first generation railguns have a muzzle velocity (intentionally limited) of 2.5 km/s (which is Mach 7.5, presumably at sea-level pressure -- the article doesn't say). That's awesome for aiming, time-of-flight, and kinetic energy delivery so great you don't even need messy exposives.

    But, what about the sonic boom? I mean, even a small thing crossing the speed barrier makes a noise (ref: a bullwhip) -- how loud will it be on deck with n of these things breaking the sound barrier every 10 seconds?

    Will they enclose them in something, build a sound baffle of some kind, or just issue really good hearing protection devices for those working in the vicinity?

    Sorry to be serious and all, but I'm just curious :)

    --
    everything in moderation