Navy Tests High-Powered Electromagnetic Railgun

Navy Tests High-Powered Electromagnetic Railgun

www.foxnews.com

In the demonstration Thursday, engineers fired the electromagnetic railgun at what they said was a record power level: 10 megajoules.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.popsci.com
www.dtic.mil
www.military.com
www.defensetech.org

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Navy Railgun Goes For Record
Navy funds research on electric rail gun
Rail gun video!
Railgun Questions

Wow. Remind anyone of Quake? lol

These guys (NAVY) are hoping to use this system to eventually fire shots at Mach 5!!!! Man, I'd hate to be an Iranian speedboat next to a warship with one of these things installed!

If they DO plan to replace all their main cannons with these railguns, they are going to have to upgrade their nuclear power house on the ship... this weapon is an electricity HOG. Will increasing the nuclear power output of the vessels make them any more hazardous regarding nuclear waste/meltdowns?

www.foxnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 1/31/2008 by damajikninja]

Kristian Birkeland would be proud! His railgun didn't do as well as he hoped.

The scale of Birkeland's research enterprises was such that the time-honored matter of funding became an overwhelming obstacle. Recognizing that technological invention could bring wealth, he developed an electromagnetic cannon. In 1900, he obtained patents on what we now call an electromagnetic-rail-gun and, with some investors, formed a firearms company. The rail-gun worked, except the high muzzle velocities he predicted (600 m/s) were not produced. The most he could get from his largest machine was 100 m/s, corresponding to a disappointing projectile range of only 1 km. So he renamed the device an aerial torpedo and arranged a demonstration with the express aim of selling the company. At the demonstration, one of the coils in the rail-gun shorted and produced a sensational inductive arc complete with noise, flame, and smoke. This was the first failure of any of the launchers that Birkeland had built. It could easily have been repaired and another demonstration organized.

Quote taken from: www.fys.uio.no...

[edit on 31-1-2008 by grimreaper797]

reply to post by damajikninja


An article I had read recently explained they could still use current non nuclear power to fire the the railcannons while the ship slows down almost to a stop, as power is diverted to the cannons.

These cannons won't be used on speedboats. They are going to be used like Cruise Missiles. It can fire further, faster, and with more explosive power(due to velocity) than a Tomahawk cruise missile. Plus it's about a 1,000 times cheaper per shot.

Once these things are operational and deployed they will be devastating. There is no rocket exhaust plume from them to be detected, electronic warfare techniques will be useless, difficult to track by radar, and difficult to counter with any anti missile system. The Perfect next generation replacement for Medium Range Ballistic Missiles and Long Range Subsonic Cruise Missiles.



[edit on 31/1/08 by MikeboydUS]

What's truly interesting to me is the concept of an aerial implementation of this weapon. Imagine silent, un-interceptable, nearly invisible projectiles raining down from the sky at mach 5. I can even envision satellite based installations of this weapon... Depleted Uranium rods from space anyone?

Looks like the USA is playing with Nikola Teslas ideas they stole. I sure hope they don't know EVERYTHING Tesla knew.

Originally posted by damajikninja
Wow. Remind anyone of Quake? lol

lol, that kicks ass! wish i had a railgun, that would rule...

(i still run a quake2 all-railz server if you ever wanna play; frag on!)

reply to post by Unit541



That's the next step, aka "Rods from god". The amount of energy released from one of these rods would equal a small nuclear weapon, without the radiation or the cost of a missile. Launch would be almost impossible to detect and almost impossible to defend against. The Perfect Strategic Weapon.

cant imagine why they would be making a weapon like this. Is it to have an advantage over human militaries or something else

reply to post by fastwalker23



Are you familar with the concept of Full Spectrum Dominance? It is the miliitary philosphy of the United States and is a really nice way of saying World Domination. In order for the US to maintain Full Spectrum Dominance, programs like SUSTAIN (Space Marines), FALCON (Blackswift Spaceplanes), TAC (Tactical Autonomous Combatants), SARCOS Powered Armor, and railguns, especially a network of orbital guns, have to be implemented.




[edit on 31/1/08 by MikeboydUS]

Here is the video of the test!!


Wow! I want one!

reply to post by damajikninja


Well that vid got taken down pretty quick! gona look round for it.


There we go.

and..


[edit on 31/1/2008 by Now_Then]

Could they put one of these in space? I know their not allowed under the space non-militarization thing, but it would make a pretty deadly space weapon. Maybe they could say it's for shooting asteroids.