A bit of an upgrade since my last thread as it appears the rammer and load carriage are operational, projo range is over 100 NM at mach 6+.
[Media]https://youtu.be/QO_zXuOQy6A[/media]
I actually found out recently I'll probably be working on this within the next 2 years so I'm pretty excited.
100 nanometers is a pretty short range, I say the tech just isn't there yet :downs:
Jokes aside, this gun is really damn cool. Interested to see how it'll look in 10 or 20 years. I wonder if railgun tanks will ever be remotely viable.
Man, 100 nautical miles is about 185 kilometers - That's absurd :v:
[sp](nm = nanometer. NM or nmi = nautical mile)[/sp]
I'm convinced that at some point in the future, some breakthrough is going to make batteries very good and railguns will become the standard in a short period of time.
[QUOTE=Funktastic Dog;52504483]I'm convinced that at some point in the future, some breakthrough is going to make batteries very good and railguns will become the standard in a short period of time.[/QUOTE]
that`s a crazy amount of energy to stuff into a very small space with a great deal of complexity needed to support something functionally identical in function to a cartidge based gun. The difference being as long as you have bullets you won`t run out of mechanical energy, but a railgun will run out of juice regardless of if you have ammunition or not.
Sounds cool, unreasonable as hell in practice. Makes sense on a boat though, because a boat could facilitate a maximum range outside of explosive projectiles, whereas a soldier is still limited to about 300-500 yards on a rifle, or maybe a kilometer or two as a dedicated long range role. Meanwhile this thing reaches almost 200km no problem and potentially has the hardware and shit to support making shots accurately at such a crazy distance.
Also, is this magnetic assistance for a traditional explosively propelled shell or is that explosion from some sort of effect the electric fields have on the air, sorta like what lighting does
By the time you have batteries that have the same energy density as propellent powder you've got yourself a bomb.
[QUOTE=Trilby Harlow;52504601]that`s a crazy amount of energy to stuff into a very small space with a great deal of complexity needed to support something functionally identical in function to a cartidge based gun. The difference being as long as you have bullets you won`t run out of mechanical energy, but a railgun will run out of juice regardless of if you have ammunition or not.
Sounds cool, unreasonable as hell in practice. Makes sense on a boat though, because a boat could facilitate a maximum range outside of explosive projectiles, whereas a soldier is still limited to about 300-500 yards on a rifle, or maybe a kilometer or two as a dedicated long range role. Meanwhile this thing reaches almost 200km no problem and potentially has the hardware and shit to support making shots accurately at such a crazy distance.
Also, is this magnetic assistance for a traditional explosively propelled shell or is that explosion from some sort of effect the electric fields have on the air, sorta like what lighting does[/QUOTE]
Sorry, I meant for cannons, like tank guns, artillery, etc. Not rifle sized...
Although I do believe that will happen at some point in the future, but the distant future.
[QUOTE=Trilby Harlow;52504601]
Also, is this magnetic assistance for a traditional explosively propelled shell or is that explosion from some sort of effect the electric fields have on the air, sorta like what lighting does[/QUOTE]
Iirc, the rounds accelerate so god damn fast the air gets super heated and basically explodes. So, yeah like lightning I guess.
[QUOTE=Trilby Harlow;52504601]Sounds cool, unreasonable as hell in practice. Makes sense on a boat though, because a boat could facilitate a maximum range outside of explosive projectiles, whereas a soldier is still limited to about 300-500 yards on a rifle, or maybe a kilometer or two as a dedicated long range role. Meanwhile this thing reaches almost 200km no problem and potentially has the hardware and shit to support making shots accurately at such a crazy distance.[/QUOTE]
A boat also has a gas or even nuclear power plant on board.
[QUOTE=Trilby Harlow;52504601]that`s a crazy amount of energy to stuff into a very small space with a great deal of complexity needed to support something functionally identical in function to a cartidge based gun. The difference being as long as you have bullets you won`t run out of mechanical energy, but a railgun will run out of juice regardless of if you have ammunition or not.
Sounds cool, unreasonable as hell in practice. Makes sense on a boat though, because a boat could facilitate a maximum range outside of explosive projectiles, whereas a soldier is still limited to about 300-500 yards on a rifle, or maybe a kilometer or two as a dedicated long range role. Meanwhile this thing reaches almost 200km no problem and potentially has the hardware and shit to support making shots accurately at such a crazy distance.
Also, is this magnetic assistance for a traditional explosively propelled shell or is that explosion from some sort of effect the electric fields have on the air, sorta like what lighting does[/QUOTE]
iirc the explosion on the outside is from intense air pressure + sonic boom + the discarded sabot cartridge's fins that come into contact with the rails actually disintegrate and basically vaporize into molten metal as its fired due to the speed and electric current that passes through them. i heard somewhere that that's actually one of the biggest obstacles to this project because with just a few shots the rails in the cannon are basically rendered useless because of the wear and tear
[QUOTE=Funktastic Dog;52504483]I'm convinced that at some point in the future, some breakthrough is going to make batteries very good and railguns will become the standard in a short period of time.[/QUOTE]
You have to realize that the support electronics for this would need some ridiculous upgrades to be scaled down to a man portable package. That recharge time in the video suggests not only a massively high discharge rated battery/supply but absolutely high efficiency SCRs/Transistors & close to tens of thousands of Farads of supercapacitors.
I'd be quicker to say that man portable laser rifles would be easier to scale down before gauss weapons.
So, do railguns like this just have increased range or is this meant to be the next evolution of warfare?
What else does it do that a normal cannon can't?
[QUOTE=_Maverick_;52504939]So, do railguns like this just have increased range or is this meant to be the next evolution of warfare?
What else does it do that a normal cannon can't?[/QUOTE]
Hypervelocity muzzle speeds (Usually >Mach 5) which means increased range and better penetration of hardened targets. Stealth projectiles (they have a smaller radar cross section, no rocket plume like a conventional missile & thus little thermal specs).
Remember Metal Gear REX?
[QUOTE=_Maverick_;52504939]So, do railguns like this just have increased range or is this meant to be the next evolution of warfare?
What else does it do that a normal cannon can't?[/QUOTE]
It is generally capable of accelerating a projectile to speeds well beyond what chemical cannons (explosive) are capable of.
Instead of a rocket coming at you from 100KM away (which is prone to detection & countermeasures), you have this practically invisible metal projectile coming at you and hitting you before you get the chance to detect it.
The future potential is big, but currently it's pretty limited in what it can fire, and how many times it can fire before it destroys itself.
So if I understand correctly the shell is propelled via an electromagnetic field?
I love how they're still using a shell scientifically designed to be slow because they'd prefer the shell not leave the 30 mile long test range.
[QUOTE=download;52504608]By the time you have batteries that have the same energy density as propellent powder you've got yourself a bomb.[/QUOTE]
Pretty much. Hell, the batteries in our phones are relatively energy-dense, and we all remember the hoohah surrounding certain Note 7 phones exploding.
Apparently the reason to that is that, in lithium-ion batteries, the liquid electrolyte is combustible AND pressurized. So that if the battery short-circuits and discharges all of its energy at once, that generates a lot of heat, which can potentially ignite the compressed liquid and cause the battery to erupt in a fiery explosion. From what I've gathered, that's partly why Note 7s malfunctioned so violently, with the other reason being that the batteries used were badly designed and more likely to malfunction.
In a way, a key difference between a bomb and a battery is how it releases its energy. After all, the same processes that govern the atomic bomb in turn govern fission reactors, just in a more controlled manner. The fire that burns twice as brightly lasts half as long, in the end.
[QUOTE=Paul-Simon;52504977]It is generally capable of accelerating a projectile to speeds well beyond what chemical cannons (explosive) are capable of.
Instead of a rocket coming at you from 100KM away (which is prone to detection & countermeasures), you have this practically invisible metal projectile coming at you and hitting you before you get the chance to detect it.
The future potential is big, but currently it's pretty limited in what it can fire, and how many times it can fire before it destroys itself.[/QUOTE]
And sure, it's just a chunk of metal flying at you, but even without explosive warheads or anything like that, the sheer kinetic energy of that slug is going to tear your shit right up. And being that the slugs can be relatively small compared to the entire support structure of a standard missile (fuel and booster housing for example), it's got penetration power for days.
Ship mounted railguns will change the face of naval warfare undoubtedly, but I do wonder what applications they'd have on land. It works for navy stuff because the ocean is just a big open thing to shoot across.
All I want to know is when we can strap these things to spaceships and conquer this whole arm of the galaxy.
[QUOTE=pedrus24;52505178]So if I understand correctly the shell is propelled via an electromagnetic field?[/QUOTE]
The projectile itself isn't conducting any electricity, only the sabot itself is across two parallel conductors (the rails). The current flow through the sabot generates a magnetic field which opposes against the rails magnetic field.
[QUOTE=Flicky;52505402]All I want to know is when we can strap these things to spaceships and conquer this whole arm of the galaxy.[/QUOTE]
We won't have rapid fire MAC guns just yet but we're close. The problem right now isn't so much power output and charge time (which is pretty easy at this scale) but long term durability. The friction & electrical conduction of each sabot against the rails slowly wears down the ability to conduct enough electricity whilst still being smooth & true enough without any small millimeter bumps or pockets along the rails. The cause of which is [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromigration"]Electromigration[/URL].
Now if scaled up Coil Guns become viable we can do rapid fire MAC guns without said durability problems inherit with rail guns.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU_253_TkSM[/media]
Here's a vid of it firing an actual tipped sabot round at test targets.
[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;52504965]Hypervelocity muzzle speeds (Usually >Mach 5) which means increased range and better penetration of hardened targets. Stealth projectiles (they have a smaller radar cross section, no rocket plume like a conventional missile & thus little thermal specs).
Remember Metal Gear REX?[/QUOTE]
So you're saying we've borne witness to the demon weapon that will drag the world down into the 21st century?
[QUOTE=IKTM;52507404]So you're saying we've borne witness to the demon weapon that will drag the world down into the 21st century?[/QUOTE]
Only if they somehow strap a MIRV to it, then we've gone full Metal Gear.
"What does this do that a cannon can't!?"
Shoots further.
"What does it do that missile can't?"
Doesn't cause 1.8 million dollars per cruise missile. It costs the fuel + projectile. The projectile probably being a solid tungsten dart.
Hot damn, I was standing 100 yards away from the rail gun (or at least the site before teardown) in the video not ~2 months ago for two days straight and I didn't even realize it. I was conducting a separate test on a (now dilapidated) runway literally adjacent to it in Dahlgren. I totally recognize the location when the gun is firing into the bay.
[QUOTE=GunFox;52594969]"What does this do that a cannon can't!?"
Shoots further.
"What does it do that missile can't?"
Doesn't cause 1.8 million dollars per cruise missile. It costs the fuel + projectile. The projectile probably being a solid tungsten dart.[/QUOTE]
Yes and no, most rounds will likely have a explosive filler with a mechanical fuse of some sort. Though, this won't likely come close to making much of dent in our reliance on TLAMs and Naval air power to fullfill our Strike mission area.
That being said I can see such a system being a game changer in Anti-shipping, a warfare area we have been vastly lacking in for decades. We only have Harpoon which is being phased out and newer ships aren't even designed to even used (TASM was phased out in early 1990s) which is sea-skimming, but slow, unwieldy and relatively easy to shoot down. While the range is similar to High performance AsHM such as Sunburn and Sizzler the fact that it's much cheaper and can be fired rapidly does give us an edge.
Do we have any idea how much explosive filler one of those rounds could have while still retaining the durability to go hypersonic? I also wonder how they're gonna handle the fuse considering the massive acceleration would likely interfere with contact fuses and the EM field may or may not fry an electric fuse
Why do the projectiles in the actual penetration test video seem to emit a gigantic shower of sparks whenever they hit anything?
Is this weapons program still running?
[QUOTE=Vitisus;52595608]Why do the projectiles in the actual penetration test video seem to emit a gigantic shower of sparks whenever they hit anything?[/QUOTE]
Because objects turn to fine dusts when struck at thousands of metres per second and fine metal dusts are flammable.
Are those white containers the capacitors? If so, holy fucking shit
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