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From MSNBC (http://famulus.msnbc.com/famuluscom/bizjournal05-19-010009.asp?bizj=ALB):
Benet labs works to make big guns lighter
By Matthew Phillips
The Business Review (Albany)
May. 19 — Watervliet is known as a small city that pumps out big guns.
From the 49-foot-long seacoast defense cannon used in the Spanish-American War, to the guns mounted on today's M-1 Abrams tanks, heavy guns are a specialty at the Watervliet Arsenal.
But war changes. That means work for Benet Laboratories, an Army research and design group that employs 225 at the U.S. Army munitions plant in Watervliet.
"That's the challenge, to get bigger guns on light vehicles," said Russell Fiscella, director of Benet Laboratories.
As the Army transforms itself into the mobile, technology-driven force needed to fight a new kind of world conflict, Benet Laboratories is being asked to design new weapons.
In August 2002, the Department of Defense cut funding for one of Benet Laboratories' main projects, a 40-ton, tank-like artillery piece called the Crusader. The Defense Department argued the weapon was too slow and heavy to have a place in the revamped Army.
Workers at the Watervliet Arsenal were to begin making barrels for the Crusader sometime in 2007 or 2008.
The Army has asked Benet Laboratories to work on a howitzer that will take the place of the Crusader. The new weapon will be more than 20 tons lighter. It will also be faster and more fuel efficient, said Eric Kathe, a mechanical engineer at Benet. The research group is working as a subcontractor to United Defense Industries Inc. of Arlington, Va., on that project.
Benet Laboratories is also designing a new cannon. This gun will have a double capability. Like a tank, it will be able to attack close enough to see. But it will also be equipped with a kind of rocket it can fire at targets 10 miles away. Defense contractor General Dynamics Corp. of Falls Church, Va., is the head contractor on that project.
"Now we can start engaging at much greater distance so the enemy doesn't even have a chance of engaging us," said Kathe.
Benet is still developing these weapons. Fiscella said they are scheduled to be in use by 2008. The entire lifetime of the project could be much longer.
"If things go as planned, Benet will be intimately involved with this program until 2030," Kathe said.
The weapons Benet Laboratories designed are to be made at the arsenal, Kathe said. The arsenal could start initial production of new cannons by 2006.
As part of the effort to make large guns lighter, Benet is also inventing new technologies to cut down on gun recoil. Reducing recoil cuts down on the heat and friction that wears down guns. Without traditionally high friction and heat levels, guns could be made out of lighter materials.
That experimental program is called RAVEN. The acronym stands for Rarefaction Wave Gun. On this gun, the breech is designed to open briefly when the gun has fired, allowing some gas to escape. By timing the gas release correctly, recoil can be cut down without losing distance or force on the fired round.
Fiscella said Benet Laboratories will also stay on top of other new developments in large-gun technology.
In the future those weapons might include directed-energy weapons, particle beams and lasers.
Benet labs works to make big guns lighter
By Matthew Phillips
The Business Review (Albany)
May. 19 — Watervliet is known as a small city that pumps out big guns.
From the 49-foot-long seacoast defense cannon used in the Spanish-American War, to the guns mounted on today's M-1 Abrams tanks, heavy guns are a specialty at the Watervliet Arsenal.
But war changes. That means work for Benet Laboratories, an Army research and design group that employs 225 at the U.S. Army munitions plant in Watervliet.
"That's the challenge, to get bigger guns on light vehicles," said Russell Fiscella, director of Benet Laboratories.
As the Army transforms itself into the mobile, technology-driven force needed to fight a new kind of world conflict, Benet Laboratories is being asked to design new weapons.
In August 2002, the Department of Defense cut funding for one of Benet Laboratories' main projects, a 40-ton, tank-like artillery piece called the Crusader. The Defense Department argued the weapon was too slow and heavy to have a place in the revamped Army.
Workers at the Watervliet Arsenal were to begin making barrels for the Crusader sometime in 2007 or 2008.
The Army has asked Benet Laboratories to work on a howitzer that will take the place of the Crusader. The new weapon will be more than 20 tons lighter. It will also be faster and more fuel efficient, said Eric Kathe, a mechanical engineer at Benet. The research group is working as a subcontractor to United Defense Industries Inc. of Arlington, Va., on that project.
Benet Laboratories is also designing a new cannon. This gun will have a double capability. Like a tank, it will be able to attack close enough to see. But it will also be equipped with a kind of rocket it can fire at targets 10 miles away. Defense contractor General Dynamics Corp. of Falls Church, Va., is the head contractor on that project.
"Now we can start engaging at much greater distance so the enemy doesn't even have a chance of engaging us," said Kathe.
Benet is still developing these weapons. Fiscella said they are scheduled to be in use by 2008. The entire lifetime of the project could be much longer.
"If things go as planned, Benet will be intimately involved with this program until 2030," Kathe said.
The weapons Benet Laboratories designed are to be made at the arsenal, Kathe said. The arsenal could start initial production of new cannons by 2006.
As part of the effort to make large guns lighter, Benet is also inventing new technologies to cut down on gun recoil. Reducing recoil cuts down on the heat and friction that wears down guns. Without traditionally high friction and heat levels, guns could be made out of lighter materials.
That experimental program is called RAVEN. The acronym stands for Rarefaction Wave Gun. On this gun, the breech is designed to open briefly when the gun has fired, allowing some gas to escape. By timing the gas release correctly, recoil can be cut down without losing distance or force on the fired round.
Fiscella said Benet Laboratories will also stay on top of other new developments in large-gun technology.
In the future those weapons might include directed-energy weapons, particle beams and lasers.
