"A year ago this was just a good idea"

[geetrue]

Article from a link on the front page of subsim.com about the new
rail gun for the USN ...

http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=600&sid=1034966

The railgun's 200 to 250 nautical-mile range will allow Navy
ships to strike deep in enemy territory while staying out of reach of
hostile forces.

Rear Adm. William E. "Bill" Landay, chief of Naval Research, said
Navy railgun progress from the drawing board to reality has
been rapid.

"A year ago, this was (just) a good idea we all wanted to pursue,"
he said.

[baggygreen]

I too was going to remark about that article - most impressive, hey. Even moreso when combined with the story the other day about a phalanx system using lasers rather than projectiles. The future is nigh!

Only downside is the slow firing rate.

[ASWnut101]

Wait, the rail gun (if i belive correctly) is a line of sight weapon. how could it strike a target 250 miles away?

[CCIP]

Wait, the rail gun (if i belive correctly) is a line of sight weapon. how could it strike a target 250 miles away?
Nope. I believe the current vision of it is as a way to launch guided shell-like projectiles. It's basically still an artillery gun, only it's electric and gives a much, much higher "muzzle" velocity. Think "smart ultra-long-range artillery".

[edit]

I guess as per article, the projectiles lack a warhead and seem to be unguided. Interesting. I'm curious how they'll get such an accuracy given the range though!

[sonar732]

This was the stance of why the Navy choose to keep our Iowa class BB's in mothballs. This 'super gun' allowed our ships to hit targets deep inland with a 5 inch baby shell vrs a 16 inch monster.... :o

[ASWnut101]

I still prefer the 16 inch monster. USS Iowa: heels yeah!

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/dod/8505379.jpg

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/k13000/k13195.jpg


EDIT: P.S.: That makes a Kirov look like the toy boats in me bathtub...yub.

[baggygreen]

knowing nothing about the history of the iowa class, i presume the chopper pad at the stern is an aftermarket addon?

love those photos, but surely one of those shells cant do as much damage as a tomahawk, and therefore not as much damage as this new railgun. Nor can it have the range.

On the other hand, 10 shots in a day isnt much at all. the Iowa could put out a lot more than 10 shots, i presume! so i suppose its a case of 6 on one hand, half-a-dozen on the other

[TteFAboB]

I'm curious how they'll get such an accuracy given the range though!

The article has two pages. :D


Projectiles will probably eventually have fins for GPS control and navigation.

To achieve that kind of control and minimize collateral damage, railgun ordnance will require electronic innards that can survive tremendous stress coming out of the muzzle.

"When this thing leaves, it's (under) hundreds of thousands of g's, and the electronics of today won't survive that," he said. "We need to develop something that will survive that many g's."

It's almost a JDAM catapult, if it weren't for:

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.

The thing works like a horizontal V2 rocket launcher! :o Or a super-tomahawk. A little higher and they might hit a GPS satellite.

[baggygreen]

needa get those birdies outta the way!:lol:

[Schatten]

Helo pad was added during one of the periodic post-war refits.

A volley of 16" shells is pretty impressive, and cheaper than a Tomahawk too.

As for railguns...I'll be suitably impressed when they deploy them. There are lots of things that have been planned and "almost ready" for years now. Personally I'm looking forward to the Metalstorm, for when things need to be way-beyond-dead right now. :yep:

[Melonfish]

railguns are so kewl. thing is as it says in the article there are no electronics that'll take the forces imparted on it during firing. so they've got to come up with something new for warhead guidence.
the fact that this has so much energy involved means they don't NEED explosives and that is so kewl!

imagine seeing one fired at a flat trajectory? the wave that'll follow it would be awsome! something akin to the parting of the red sea i bet ;)
pete

[U-533]

I imagine a rail-gun projectiles would have to be 2x extremely aerodynamic just to keep from melting in flight:hmm:

[geetrue]

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.

[quote=CCIP]
The thing works like a horizontal V2 rocket launcher! :o Or a super-tomahawk. A little higher and they might hit a GPS satellite.

on second thought maybe the USN should convert to metric ...

What happens if they don't dial it in just right?

Good-by International Space Station ... :roll:

[Sailor Steve]

knowing nothing about the history of the iowa class, i presume the chopper pad at the stern is an aftermarket addon?

love those photos, but surely one of those shells cant do as much damage as a tomahawk, and therefore not as much damage as this new railgun. Nor can it have the range.

On the other hand, 10 shots in a day isnt much at all. the Iowa could put out a lot more than 10 shots, i presume! so i suppose its a case of 6 on one hand, half-a-dozen on the other
Yes, the upper picture is the '80s version of the Iowa, with helo pad and all kinds of modern anti-missile weapons.

The 16" HC shell carries 405 lbs of powder, and theoretically they can fire two rounds per minute until they're all gone. Even at one salvo every two minutes they can put a devastating amount of explosive into a target.