Railguns Getting Closer

[tellner]

It's not shotguns. Not rifles. Not blackpowder. Not pistols. I guess it's "general"...

The wizards at the Naval Surface Warfare Center have tested an eight megajoule railgun. Current plans are to ramp up to 64 megajoules for naval guns. The current powder-fired guns come in at around nine megajoules

The projectiles could travel 200-250 miles, go up to 95 miles high, travel faster than a Tomahawk cruise missile and eliminate the need for explosive shells. The terrific kinetic energy of the projectile will provide all needed destructive power. They would also cost considerably less - $1million for a cruise missle compared to about $1000 for one of these and reduce the possibility of dangerous accidents with powder on shipboard.

 

[Sniper4Life]

Wow, I wonder how soon they will have a man portable unit

 

[tellner]

Imagine how many Duracells you'd need to cart around

 

[Sniper4Life]

I think by then they would have developed some kind of portable generater or something, but unless it was like 20 pounds it would be to heavy to be practical

 

[doubleg]

I bet the man portable unit would be legal fo purchase. It doesnt fire amunition.

 

[Warren]

Is it possible to make a bigger one that could shoot commercial items into space?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for bigguns but I would like to see launch costs for space stuff go down and this seems to be on the right track...so to speak.

 

[MikePGS]

That just means that they'll outlaw electricity

 

[Kimber1911_06238]

lol, imagine the kw's used to send a shell 200 miles?

 

[Sniper4Life]

That could be the flatest shooting .30 caliber ever. I wonder about recoil?

 

[larryw]

Warren, I think the forces of acceleration in such a launching mechansim would squash most commercial space applications.

 

[Justin]

Is it possible to make a bigger one that could shoot commercial items into space?

Shades of Dr. Bull.

 

[Lucky]

Might eliminate need for power on-board, but if you've got some fusion generator or something it might be even uglier when it is damaged.

 

[FCFC]

I can't wait for the compact model.

 

[Kali Endgame]

Paging Dr. Bull,

Is there a difference between a magnetic sled and magnetic rail delivery system? Just curious because PopSci did an article on a MagSled that is being designed to launch stuff into space.

 

[ForeverArmed]

While some of the technology government is developing may be impressive and interesting, you can be sure that it will be kept out of the hands of us peasants. As long as we tolerate the government we have, it will keep the choicest weapons to itself and use them to keep us in line.

A large percentage of our tax money goes to researching newer and better ways to enslave us. First it will be used by the military, possibly for legitimate purposes; but eventually anything that can be used to control people on the ground (e.g., advanced small arms and body armor) will find its way into the hands of LE, who will then use it against US citizens.

 

[Thefabulousfink]

RE: Space
The idea of using a railgun or large cannon to shoot objects into space has been aound for a long time. The general concensus is that, while impractical for human or delicate cargo, it would be an efficient way to get building materials and supplies into orbit.

My highschool Physics teacher outlined the basic theory of railguns and had us work out the physics of one in class whenwe were studying magnetic fields. They are actually a fairly simple theory. The hard part in building one is reducing the resistence of the materials, and having enough power to make stronge enough magnetic fields.

 

[Correia]

Forever Armed, please take it to a different thread. We've heard it before, and it really has absolutely nothing to do with this topic.

 

[ForeverArmed]

Sorry, it just came to mind. Wasn't trying to hijack.

 

[Warren]

If these are so cheap to make then no ship within 250 miles of a coast line will be safe.

If I was a tin pot despot I'd make sure I had a bunch of these. At a 1000 USD per I could literally have hundreds of them.

Add some sort of seeking system and no plane is safe. Of course I would use a smaller version to take aircraft but the threat would be very real.

 

[Thefabulousfink]

The guns themselves are expensive, they require advanced capacitors, large amounts of engergy, and superconductive materials. It is the ammo that is cheap. Instead of a complex missile, a rail gun simple fires a metal slug at extreme velocities.

The simple explanation of how they work is this:
Two (or more) conductive rails are placed parrallel down the length of the barrel. These rails are charged to produce strong magnetic fields. As the rails are charged, the magnetic field pushes a metal slug ahead of it through the barrel. In theory the rails would charge near instantly, so if the field is strong enough, the slug would leave the gun at an extreme velocity.

As simple as that is in theory, it is very hard to achieve in practice.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Great . . .

Instead of a ten-million-dollar missle from a hundred-thousand-dollar launch pad, we have a thousand-dollar missle from a hundred-million-dollar launch pad.

With its own power plant.

Once they get going with this, I wonder what the vertical range would be.

 

[telomerase]

I wonder what the vertical range would be.

If horizontal is 200 miles, vertical is about 100. But that's not the way to think of it. It would get rid of the first stage of an orbital rocket.

 

[hankdatank1362]

So, what caliber for railgun????

or...

I'll buy one if it has a crisp single-action trigger! (or manual safety, or no external lock, or whatever else everyone always likes to harp about!)

 

[Phyphor]

Haha

Manual saftey = circuit breaker
Trigger = button w/spring below it (you pick the resistance in pounds.)


Although, if it malfs, I somehow doubt "tap, rack, bang" would work out.

 

[MechAg94]

I saw another link this morning that said the gun will only shoot several times per DAY. Not a real fast rate of fire.