Navy’s Railgun Now Undergoing Tests In New Mexico, Could Deploy On Ship In Northwest

[DrainBamage]

Zumwalt wasn't canceled, it was just greatly reduced in numbers. A surface ship version of Sea Wolf.

They are making three, I think they've already launched two of them but not sure. Since they don't have AGS and can't carry Standard they are currently just tomahawk barges with ESSMs for defense. If I was a betting man I'd wager the first rail gun mount will end up on a Zumwalt, both since has the unused space from the canceled gun and the upped power system you mentioned.

Burke Flight 3 is also supposed to generate a lot more power, both to feed that bigger radar and future weapon systems. Burkes will be the first with lasers (aside from the Ponce experiment) probably within a couple years.

 

[DrainBamage]

Regarding rail guns and all the talk of "what is an explosion" I think bottom line we lost sight of the point of the question and the objections raised to it's effectiveness compared to chemical based rounds are valid.

If a rail gun hits something with lots of resistance (like armor plating) it has a lot of energy transformed and creates quite the mess with shockwave and superheated debris, but shoot one at something like a house and it could well pass right through the walls without much more than a few new holes for windows. If a 155mm artillery shell lands two meters away from your position you're done, or at the very least out of the fight, however a rail gun hit might just be a really fucking deep hole in the dirt that kicked up a shit ton of debris but didn't impact your ability to fight. Something to consider.

Obviously some targets rail guns are applicably lethal, a great example being an incoming cruise missile. I can't imagine a scenario where a rail gun projectile strikes an antiship missile without disabling it. But lobbing them into a city? Give me old fashioned artillery any day. Even better some JDAMs.

 

[alang1216]

Regarding rail guns and all the talk of "what is an explosion" I think bottom line we lost sight of the point of the question and the objections raised to it's effectiveness compared to chemical based rounds are valid.

If a rail gun hits something with lots of resistance (like armor plating) it has a lot of energy transformed and creates quite the mess with shockwave and superheated debris, but shoot one at something like a house and it could well pass right through the walls without much more than a few new holes for windows. If a 155mm artillery shell lands two meters away from your position you're done, or at the very least out of the fight, however a rail gun hit might just be a really fucking deep hole in the dirt that kicked up a shit ton of debris but didn't impact your ability to fight. Something to consider.

Obviously some targets rail guns are applicably lethal, a great example being an incoming cruise missile. I can't imagine a scenario where a rail gun projectile strikes an antiship missile without disabling it. But lobbing them into a city? Give me old fashioned artillery any day. Even better some JDAMs.

All good points. I wonder if a railgun could propel an explosive shell instead of an inert projectile without the heat of friction setting off the shell?

 

[westwall]

Regarding rail guns and all the talk of "what is an explosion" I think bottom line we lost sight of the point of the question and the objections raised to it's effectiveness compared to chemical based rounds are valid.

If a rail gun hits something with lots of resistance (like armor plating) it has a lot of energy transformed and creates quite the mess with shockwave and superheated debris, but shoot one at something like a house and it could well pass right through the walls without much more than a few new holes for windows. If a 155mm artillery shell lands two meters away from your position you're done, or at the very least out of the fight, however a rail gun hit might just be a really fucking deep hole in the dirt that kicked up a shit ton of debris but didn't impact your ability to fight. Something to consider.

Obviously some targets rail guns are applicably lethal, a great example being an incoming cruise missile. I can't imagine a scenario where a rail gun projectile strikes an antiship missile without disabling it. But lobbing them into a city? Give me old fashioned artillery any day. Even better some JDAMs.

All good points. I wonder if a railgun could propel an explosive shell instead of an inert projectile without the heat of friction setting off the shell?

Yes, of course. The rail gun is merely the method of projecting a payload. The payload can be anything.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

I’m a huge proponent of the rail guns. Conventional shells need to go boom to fire, requiring storage and handling requirements in the ship and as we saw on the USS Iowa the boom can sometimes go the wrong way. If someone had not closed a hatch per requirements the Iowa and her crew would be with Davy Jones.

Rail gun shells are just overgrown steel paperweights and can be stored anywhere with no safety concerns other than securing them in place.

Navy’s Railgun Now Undergoing Tests In New Mexico, Could Deploy On Ship In Northwest.

I read about this a few years back. It can be fired in space and could very easily be mounted on a space vehicle. By using certain metal configurations and explosives it can be far more accurate than many of our smart weapons and the energy it can hit with from outer space could destroy whole buildings, city blocks, and more. This thing is wild. No need for ICBM's in the US any more as it can be operated in space and fires at hyper-sonic speeds.

Look up Star Wars Defense System > Strategic Defense Initiative | Description, History, & Facts

On board a ship a smaller version of this gun can defeat any hypersoinc weapon/missile as its systems can not detect the small projectile at such high speeds. It should be capable of taking out surface to ground and air to air missiles in less than about 3 seconds as it approaches the target. This has a lot of potential uses.

How would a projectile take out a building or a city block? It would not have sufficient mass to create the energy required. I guess whoever came up with that theory never took physics.

Well ‘Admiral’, the days of Naval shore bombardment are gone, it’s ship to ship again. The pendulum has swung back.

Air power can now reach any location on earth.

That's typical. You did not or could not answer my question.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

I’m a huge proponent of the rail guns. Conventional shells need to go boom to fire, requiring storage and handling requirements in the ship and as we saw on the USS Iowa the boom can sometimes go the wrong way. If someone had not closed a hatch per requirements the Iowa and her crew would be with Davy Jones.

Rail gun shells are just overgrown steel paperweights and can be stored anywhere with no safety concerns other than securing them in place.

Navy’s Railgun Now Undergoing Tests In New Mexico, Could Deploy On Ship In Northwest.

I read about this a few years back. It can be fired in space and could very easily be mounted on a space vehicle. By using certain metal configurations and explosives it can be far more accurate than many of our smart weapons and the energy it can hit with from outer space could destroy whole buildings, city blocks, and more. This thing is wild. No need for ICBM's in the US any more as it can be operated in space and fires at hyper-sonic speeds.

Look up Star Wars Defense System > Strategic Defense Initiative | Description, History, & Facts

On board a ship a smaller version of this gun can defeat any hypersoinc weapon/missile as its systems can not detect the small projectile at such high speeds. It should be capable of taking out surface to ground and air to air missiles in less than about 3 seconds as it approaches the target. This has a lot of potential uses.

How would a projectile take out a building or a city block? It would not have sufficient mass to create the energy required. I guess whoever came up with that theory never took physics.

IF you use the right combination of metals the explosion, on impact, will level whole city blocks and potentially much more if fired from space.

What causes the fucking explosion? Do you understand anything about physics? Please explain how an inert object causes an explosion.

Do you know what happens when a nuclear explosion occurs outside the earth's atmosphere? Lots of radiation, and not much else! Why? There is nothing to react to the release of the energy! No atmosphere to heat up with all of that energy!

real simple... two opposing metals that when compressed create an explosion. You dont know much about atomic bombs, do you?

You apparently do not. I was a nuclear weapons officer in the Navy What about you?

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

I read about this a few years back. It can be fired in space and could very easily be mounted on a space vehicle. By using certain metal configurations and explosives it can be far more accurate than many of our smart weapons and the energy it can hit with from outer space could destroy whole buildings, city blocks, and more. This thing is wild. No need for ICBM's in the US any more as it can be operated in space and fires at hyper-sonic speeds.

Look up Star Wars Defense System > Strategic Defense Initiative | Description, History, & Facts

On board a ship a smaller version of this gun can defeat any hypersoinc weapon/missile as its systems can not detect the small projectile at such high speeds. It should be capable of taking out surface to ground and air to air missiles in less than about 3 seconds as it approaches the target. This has a lot of potential uses.

How would a projectile take out a building or a city block? It would not have sufficient mass to create the energy required. I guess whoever came up with that theory never took physics.

IF you use the right combination of metals the explosion, on impact, will level whole city blocks and potentially much more if fired from space.

What causes the fucking explosion? Do you understand anything about physics? Please explain how an inert object causes an explosion.

Do you know what happens when a nuclear explosion occurs outside the earth's atmosphere? Lots of radiation, and not much else! Why? There is nothing to react to the release of the energy! No atmosphere to heat up with all of that energy!

real simple... two opposing metals that when compressed create an explosion. You dont know much about atomic bombs, do you?

You apparently do not! Those opposing metals are not opposing. They are the same, dumbass! You are flailing here. Stop embarrassing yourself.

No, I don't know anything about nuclear weapons, considering I was a Nuclear Weapons Officer in the Navy. You have probably never even seen one, much less know how they work.

Pull the thorn out of your ass. You argue to argue.

You argue because you are a dumbass who doesn't know any better!

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

I read about this a few years back. It can be fired in space and could very easily be mounted on a space vehicle. By using certain metal configurations and explosives it can be far more accurate than many of our smart weapons and the energy it can hit with from outer space could destroy whole buildings, city blocks, and more. This thing is wild. No need for ICBM's in the US any more as it can be operated in space and fires at hyper-sonic speeds.

Look up Star Wars Defense System > Strategic Defense Initiative | Description, History, & Facts

On board a ship a smaller version of this gun can defeat any hypersoinc weapon/missile as its systems can not detect the small projectile at such high speeds. It should be capable of taking out surface to ground and air to air missiles in less than about 3 seconds as it approaches the target. This has a lot of potential uses.

How would a projectile take out a building or a city block? It would not have sufficient mass to create the energy required. I guess whoever came up with that theory never took physics.

IF you use the right combination of metals the explosion, on impact, will level whole city blocks and potentially much more if fired from space.

What causes the fucking explosion? Do you understand anything about physics? Please explain how an inert object causes an explosion.

Do you know what happens when a nuclear explosion occurs outside the earth's atmosphere? Lots of radiation, and not much else! Why? There is nothing to react to the release of the energy! No atmosphere to heat up with all of that energy!

real simple... two opposing metals that when compressed create an explosion. You dont know much about atomic bombs, do you?

You apparently do not! Those opposing metals are not opposing. They are the same, dumbass! You are flailing here. Stop embarrassing yourself.

No, I don't know anything about nuclear weapons, considering I was a Nuclear Weapons Officer in the Navy. You have probably never even seen one, much less know how they work.

LOL...

Talking about a dumb ass.... U235 and U236 are not the same. Similar but not the same. You only need a small amount of U236 to make a larger U235 mass go into a fission state.

Considering nuclear weapons today do not use uranium, what is your fucking point?

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

What causes the fucking explosion? Do you understand anything about physics? Please explain how an inert object causes an explosion.

The explosion is caused by the transfer of kinetic energy of projectile during impact, causing a shockwave and super heating the materials of the projectile, target and the surrounding air. If you don't think an explosion is possible without a chemical charge go look at pictures of the shock wave damage to buildings after the Chelyabinsk meteor hit in 2013.

Here's a rail gun projectile going through slabs of steel, note the fireballs despite not having a chemical charge:

I'm not saying a rail gun projectile could take out a city block, but it's impact will release energy that would fit the definition of an explosion.

That's not an explosion, dumbass!

It is an explosion. DrainBamage is exactly right, just ask any dinosaur.

Really? 10 feet away would be left unscathed!

 

[HenryBHough]

What need for any new gun when national policy will be quiet submission?

 

[HenryBHough]

You apparently do not. I was a nuclear weapons officer in the Navy What about you?

So was Jimmuh Carter and look where he got us!

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

It is an explosion. DrainBamage is exactly right, just ask any dinosaur.

That is not an explosion, but a series of plates being hit by a projectile.

As far as the dinosaurs go, meteors will explode because of their interaction with the heat produced by friction with the atmosphere. Now apply that knowledge to an inert projectile.

How much friction is there when a projectile passes through a steel plate?

That's heat and molten metal, not an explosion, dumbass!

Go back and take a physics course and throw one on chemistry in there also!

So what makes an explosion?

Why don't you go find out? I retired from teaching last year. Pay for your own education, but Google is free!

I know the answer, it is you in need of educating.

I hope you and your ignorance are very happy together.

No, you fucking don't you hypocritical piece of shit!

Definition of an explosion: An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extremely vigorous outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases.

Explosion - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

See any of that in your photos?

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

from Google (yeah I know):
An explosion is a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases.

I'm not so sure on needing a central point to be considered an explosion, a fuel air explosion emanates from an irregular shape. A shaped charge can direct the force of an explosion primarily in one direction.

An electrical arc explosion? Is a meteor strike and it's accompanying shockwave considered an explosion?

A meteor strike I would consider an explosion because of the increase in volume of gasses. The shockwave itself would not be considered an explosion however. It would be a product of the explosion.

What is the difference between a meteor strike and the impact of a rail gun projectile that vaporizes on impact?

What makes you think a rail gun projectile vaporizes on impact?

You forget, I'm uneducated. Do you know different?

You are correct. You are uneducated in numerous disciplines. I would suggest some college level classes in physics and chemistry if you really want to understand.

 

[AZrailwhale]

I’m a huge proponent of the rail guns. Conventional shells need to go boom to fire, requiring storage and handling requirements in the ship and as we saw on the USS Iowa the boom can sometimes go the wrong way. If someone had not closed a hatch per requirements the Iowa and her crew would be with Davy Jones.

Rail gun shells are just overgrown steel paperweights and can be stored anywhere with no safety concerns other than securing them in place.

Navy’s Railgun Now Undergoing Tests In New Mexico, Could Deploy On Ship In Northwest.

The item I find most intriguing is this technology is being used today on two nuclear aircraft carriers to catapult aircraft. Pilots say it beats steam hands down but it also generates about 1G force more than a steam cat in less time.

Yeah, it’s going on the new super carrier Gerald Ford. They’ve had a lot of problems with it, as with any leap in technology. Great idea over the old steam system which is dangerous.

Steam is reliable and proven which is why a back up system is on board this carrier. Even if the electric one fails the steam cats will still be able to operate. The newer cats have a much higher failure rate than is acceptable in inclement weather condition's.

They once said the same thing about masts and sails on steam warships

 

[Mac-7]

The Navy needs to develop an advanced Spud Gun

I see the topic went over your head

 

[anotherlife]

I’m a huge proponent of the rail guns. Conventional shells need to go boom to fire, requiring storage and handling requirements in the ship and as we saw on the USS Iowa the boom can sometimes go the wrong way. If someone had not closed a hatch per requirements the Iowa and her crew would be with Davy Jones.

Rail gun shells are just overgrown steel paperweights and can be stored anywhere with no safety concerns other than securing them in place.

Navy’s Railgun Now Undergoing Tests In New Mexico, Could Deploy On Ship In Northwest.

Yes. Rail guns are the elegant weapon. They are clean. That is very important. Rail guns are like the gentleman of the art of war. They also keep their target clean, even after destroying the target. I would like them installed on satellites.

Can we calculate how much kinetic energy a railgun needs to produce on a satellite to get the shell across the atmosphere to produce an impact equivalent to one ton of tnt? Should be possible to calculate. Would be so good!

 

[Weatherman2020]

I read about this a few years back. It can be fired in space and could very easily be mounted on a space vehicle. By using certain metal configurations and explosives it can be far more accurate than many of our smart weapons and the energy it can hit with from outer space could destroy whole buildings, city blocks, and more. This thing is wild. No need for ICBM's in the US any more as it can be operated in space and fires at hyper-sonic speeds.

Look up Star Wars Defense System > Strategic Defense Initiative | Description, History, & Facts

On board a ship a smaller version of this gun can defeat any hypersoinc weapon/missile as its systems can not detect the small projectile at such high speeds. It should be capable of taking out surface to ground and air to air missiles in less than about 3 seconds as it approaches the target. This has a lot of potential uses.

How would a projectile take out a building or a city block? It would not have sufficient mass to create the energy required. I guess whoever came up with that theory never took physics.

IF you use the right combination of metals the explosion, on impact, will level whole city blocks and potentially much more if fired from space.

What causes the fucking explosion? Do you understand anything about physics? Please explain how an inert object causes an explosion.

Do you know what happens when a nuclear explosion occurs outside the earth's atmosphere? Lots of radiation, and not much else! Why? There is nothing to react to the release of the energy! No atmosphere to heat up with all of that energy!

real simple... two opposing metals that when compressed create an explosion. You dont know much about atomic bombs, do you?

You apparently do not! Those opposing metals are not opposing. They are the same, dumbass! You are flailing here. Stop embarrassing yourself.

No, I don't know anything about nuclear weapons, considering I was a Nuclear Weapons Officer in the Navy. You have probably never even seen one, much less know how they work.

Pull the thorn out of your ass. You argue to argue.

You argue because you are a dumbass who doesn't know any better!