Navy tests most powerful rail gun to date

Navy Times:

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An EM railgun is powered by electricity rather than gunpowder. A shell is launched at Mach 7 through the electromagnetic rails into the atmosphere for about one minute, flies out of the atmosphere for four minutes, and then descends to Earth toward its target at Mach 5 in approximately one minute. The projectile is guided using the Global Positioning System.

In November, defense contractor BAE Systems delivered a 32-megajoule laboratory gun and launcher to Dahlgren. Eventually, the Navy wants to produce a 64-megajoule railgun that will be able to strike targets on land from more than 200 nautical miles away. General Atomics is also building a gun, program officials said. In years to come, the Navy will decide which gun will work better on a ship.

The program wants to demonstrate more than 100 shots by fiscal 2011. The objective is to fire 3,000 rounds per gun barrel. The barrels should be changeable onboard ship, according to program officials.

The Navy hopes an EM railgun onboard a ship could increase ship design options because the gun weighs less and requires less infrastructure than traditional guns that use gunpowder and magazines.

Traditional fire-protection and ammunition-handling requirements are not necessary using an electromagnetic-pulse power system. Potentially, this could change the way the service thinks about naval gunnery, Landay, the head of ONR, told reporters after the test firing.

The Navy plans to have an EM railgun onboard a ship, potentially its next-generation cruiser CG(X), between 2020 and 2025. Officials declined to say what ship would be a good candidate for the gun.

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The test was of a rail gun rated at 10.68 megajoules. The previous record was 9 megajoules held by the Center for Electromagnetic Materials and Devices at the University of Texas. The standoff capacity of this weapon is pretty awesome. It could make some cruise missiles obsolete. The ability to destroy enemy weapons and facilities from over the horizon will give our forces substantial advantages.

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