And Now We Have Rail Guns. For Real.

[proditor]

So for all of you modelers who wanted that rail gun equipped battleship...well, read and cry your tears of joy.  

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/01...dex_html?page=1

[cthulhu77]

I feel sorry for that captain...this information is still classified.

[Mossie]

This article mentions a contract  awarded to BAE to produce a 32 Mega Joule weapon, but I guess the one in your article Proditor is the mentioned as a foot note by the University of Texas Institute of Advanced Technology.  It might equip the DD (X) Destroyer.

BAE Rail Gun

I guess if it's secret then that Captains in for it!

[Archibald]

Wow!!

At the peak of its ballistic trajectory, the projectile will reach an altitude of 500,000 feet, or about 95 miles, actually exiting the Earth's atmosphere.

(better than Munchausen   )

Have you see the reference to "the eraser " (hilarious film, when Arnold fight with an alligator... )  

[B777LR]

Didnt the germans didnt develop something like this during WW2?

[Archibald]

Not exactly... the hochdruckpumpe (name   ) which was set up in a huge buncker in Mimoyecke, North of France  used the basic technic of gun (powder) , with some power augmentation (can't remember exactly what, I think the gun had more pression chambers).

This one looks more like Arnold guns in "the Eraser" (but I would never thought that these terrific weapons were almost real   )  

[cthulhu77]

skip the almost.  Devastating.

[kitnut617]

Wasn't this what the Canadian Bullock (or Bullard) was working on before the Israelies bumped him off.  He was building it for Saddam.

Before that he spent ages developing this for the US before he was told it would never happen!!  hmmm! interesting.

[Archangel]

Just you wait,next thing you know it'll be sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their heads!!!!

[Hobbes]

Wasn't this what the Canadian Bullock (or Bullard) was working on before the Israelies bumped him off.  He was building it for Saddam.

Before that he spent ages developing this for the US before he was told it would never happen!!  hmmm! interesting.

No. Those were guns with 'normal' chemical propellants, successors to the hochdruckpumpe.

A rail gun basically consists of two big parallel wires (the rails). The projectile connects the two, and the resulting current produces a magnetic field that propels the projectile. The problem is that you need a huge current to create the magnetic field. The projectile should touch the rails to complete the circuit, but the pressure should be as low as possible to prevent the projectile from being welded to the rails. That means the contact won't be perfect, and you get lots of sparks which will damage the rails. Also, the huge magnetic fields may warp the gun. Current designs need repairs after every shot.  

[ysi_maniac]

A rail gun basically consists of two big parallel wires (the rails). The projectile connects the two, and the resulting current produces a magnetic field that propels the projectile. The problem is that you need a huge current to create the magnetic field. The projectile should touch the rails to complete the circuit, but the pressure should be as low as possible to prevent the projectile from being welded to the rails. That means the contact won't be perfect, and you get lots of sparks which will damage the rails. Also, the huge magnetic fields may warp the gun. Current designs need repairs after every shot.

This is the information I had. But this is not new at all.

Anyway I was thinking in a supertank with such weapon      

[Mossie]

Sounds interesting Carlos!  One of the problems at the moment is not the really big weapons, but the smaller ones.  The weapons need a huge amount of electricity & therefore enormous capacitors to generate this, that's why they're only talking of mounting it on a ship at present.  As technology advances, it'll be small enough to fit on a tank & the boffins eventually reckon small arms will use use the technology.  When you see the hero in a sci fi film point a 'ray-gun' at the bad guy & he expoldes the moment he presses the trigger, that may well be real soon.

We keep talking about these new weapons in awe.  In some ways I find them very interesting, in others they scare the crap out of me!  

[Maverick]

Just you wait,next thing you know it'll be sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their heads!!!!

Or perhaps mutated sea Bass?

But seriously folks, a few things strike me:

1. the Director stated it was like a 'supersonic bullet'... the last time I looked all bullets were supersonic except for suppressed rounds, etc...

2. the thing's got a ballistic trajectory? & exits the atmosphere?  Reminds me of the cargo flights near the DMZ in SVN that took a chance of being hit by 'friendly' arty.

3. and finally they want to GPS it...?  Looks like everything gets GPS these days.

Either way, it's some seriously nasty firepower, I wonder what it'll do to the ship it's fitted to... (can we say Philidelphia, lol)

Regards,

mav

[B777LR]

Bah, killer sea-cucumber :ar:  

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Wasn't this what the Canadian Bullock (or Bullard) was working on before the Israelies bumped him off.  He was building it for Saddam.

Before that he spent ages developing this for the US before he was told it would never happen!!  hmmm! interesting.

Gerald Bull
=======================

As far as projectiles go, they need to develop one that is biodegradable such as a frozen chicken or turkey.  Something that will fertilize the devastated area after it has been destroyed.  

Recalling the various proof and test programs that were using high velocity chicken carcasses to impact aircraft windscreens and develop test data on bird strikes....

edit----
I would assume that if the bird was wrapped in a conductive material such as aluminum foil it could be propelled at hypervelocity towards a distant target...