The electro-magnetic gun program gets US$14.7 million

[Don Edwards]

The electro-magnetic gun program gets US$14.7 million





July 7, 2006 The United States Navy has awarded two contracts for the development of an electro-magnetic gun system capable of deployment on board naval surface combatant ships. The development work preliminary design for an Electro-Magnetic (EM) railgun prototype and the preliminary design of the U.S Navy's 32 megajoule (MJ) Laboratory Launcher. An electro-magnetic railgun uses electrical energy to accelerate projectiles to extreme velocities. Railguns do not require powders or explosives to fire the round and therefore free magazine space for other mission areas. In addition, electro-magnetic guns provide a highly consistent and uniform explosive charge that gives much greater accuracy. Thirty-two megajoule is equivalent to a firing speed of Mach 8 or eight times the speed of sound. This will be an intermediate step on the road to a 64-MJ Tactical System capable of deployment on-board naval surface combatant ships.



The development work includes a US$9.3 million contract from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to develop technologies and preliminary design for an Electro-Magnetic (EM) railgun prototype and a US$5.4M contract from Naval Special Warfare Center-Dahlgren for the design and fabrication of the U.S Navy's 32 megajoule (MJ) Laboratory Launcher.



BAE Systems was selected by ONR to advance to the next phase of the Innovative Naval Prototype Program. Under this 30-month phase, BAE Systems will take the state-of-the-art Electro-Magnetic Railgun technologies through technology maturation and develop a preliminary design of a 32-MJ EM Railgun. Thirty-two megajoule is equivalent to a firing speed of Mach 8 or eight times the speed of sound. This will be an intermediate step on the road to a 64-MJ Tactical System capable of deployment on-board naval surface combatant ships. The design and fabrication of the 32-MJ Laboratory Launcher will serve as a major step towards development of a full-scale tactical EM Gun weapon system for the U.S. Navy.





Just an interesting read



Don Monkeyboy

 

[Rich Stern]

It's a good start.



I'm waiting for a concealed carry version, powered by watch batteries.

 

[Alan Peters]

Reminds me of the EF-111 jammer aircraft developed in the early 80's. Could be a powerful weapon........

 

[Matt Poling]

Im in the Navy and am currently on the base where they are testing this weapon, very cool to see. All i can say is, this is going to be a great replacement for the 5" deck guns on destroyers and cruisers when this is completed.

 

[Larry Phillips]

That's interesting. At first I was thinking they were talking about an EMP weapon to knock out enemy electronics systems. That would be a neat way to cut down on IED detonations since alot of them are remote detonated.

 

[Eric Pennal]

Good one Rich! :lol::lol:

 

[Bob McDonald]

Railguns do not require powders or explosives to fire the round and therefore free magazine space for other mission areas.

Not entirely true I suspect. The projected ordinance will probably still have some explosive capability so they will still need significant magazine space to store those in, wouldn't they?

In fact, I would bet that they will use the same space, only just carry more rounds.

 

[Jeff C]

Bob, watching "Future Weapons" or one of those programs on The History Channel, they don't use explosives. The force of the round alone does amazing amounts of damage, and I'm willing to bet that it's solid for the fact that it won't deform when being launched at Mach 8. I wonder if something with an explosive charge would cause the housing of the charge to collapse upon acceleration.

 

[Dale Carlson]

Agree with Jeff. The kinetic energy of a steel slug moving at Mach 8 will do considerable damage. It's all about the physics. Then again, I'm thinking that the power systems for the railguns will probably take up a lot of space - so it might be a wash.



The theoretical aspects for railguns have been around for decades. Mostly because of the power requirements implementation has been a little slow. If memory serves, the Air Force has a railgun test bed mounted in a big jet (C-135/707 or 747, can't remember which).



Photon torpedos, anyone? :blink:

 

[Bob McDonald]

You could very well be correct Jeff. Now that I think of it, isn't the Sabot tank round basically a rod that uses its kinetic energy to punch through the opposing tank's armor?

 

[Larry Phillips]

If memory serves, the Air Force has a railgun test bed mounted in a big jet (C-135/707 or 747, can't remember which).

I haven't heard about that, but I'll bet it's true, however, I do know for a fact we have a really cool Airborne Laser on a 747. It tracks and destroys missiles in flight. The whole length of the plane is laser components.

 

[Dale Carlson]

Ahhh, that was probably what I was thinking about, Larry.