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VIDEO: BAE Electromagnetic Railgun

C

CWOJackson

Charter Member
At the end of last month, the Navy got an early Valentine's Day present in the form of a prototype fully-weaponized naval railgun. And on Tuesday, it released a video of its first shot, which we're officially filing under "things not to get in the way of."

This prototype weapon, developed by BAE Systems, fires inert aluminum slugs out of a 40-foot barrel using nothing but megajoules of raw electricity. The giant gout of flame you see in the video comes from a combination of about a million amps of energy, the hypersonic speed of the round, and the aluminum in the bullet reacting with the atmosphere.

The ultimate goal here is to fire 10 rounds per minute with 32 megajoules of energy each, sending them between 50 and 100 miles downrange with flawless GPS-guided accuracy, at a speed that's so high that when the rounds hit their target, they'll be carrying the equivalent amount of destructive force as a Volkswagen Beetle traveling at 100 mph.

32 times over.


 
Holy cow, that looks like something right out of a science fiction movie!
I wonder how the energy for that is supplied - huge and/or many capacitators maybe?


Wondering,
Mark
 
HouseHobbit said:
OUCH!!
This looks like it might be good for Groundhog hunting in Eastern Kentucky too!!:applause: :applause:
Click to expand...

Shooting from Western Kentucky.

The test projectile in the video is intended to keep it tweaked down for testing. Apparently Boeing is designing the actual projectiles.
 
....If someone would explain what a 'megajoules' is. I know it has it something to do with the measurement of energy. But stated in layman's language. Also,...how does this gun compare to the 16" guns that were mounted on WWII battleships,.....such as the USS Wisconsin or USS Missouri?
 
brad kaste said:
....If someone would explain what a 'megajoules' is. I know it has it something to do with the measurement of energy. But stated in layman's language.
Click to expand...
From Wikipedia:

[h=3]Megajoule[/h] The megajoule (MJ) is equal to one million (10[SUP]6[/SUP]) joules, or approximately the kinetic energy of a one-tonne vehicle moving at 160 km/h (100 mph).
Because 1 watt times one second equals one joule, 1 kilowatt-hour is 1000 watts times 3600 seconds, or 3.6 megajoules.
Click to expand...
 
The linear moter, developed as an USAF DARPA project in the early 90's works very well.:icon_lol: It goes hand-in-hand with fly-by-wire and fly-by-light. All this stuff originated in the USAF Logistics Command Mechanical Systems Technical Application Program Management (MST TAPM) in the 80's.:icon_lol::icon_lol: -- Retired MST TAPM Manager:wavey::running:
 
"Velocitas Eradico." Speed destroys

Awesome:adjective. 1. inspiring awe

All this stuff originated ...in the 80's.
Click to expand...
There must've been some significant hurdles to cross then, I imagine they've been working on it all this while?
Unexpected to see such a huge flame plume if there's no explosive pushing it.
Though there must be tremendous heat from the flux put through the projectile.
Maybe designing the round not to turn into a blob is what's limiting the development?
 
Wing_Z said:
Awesome:adjective. 1. inspiring awe

There must've been some significant hurdles to cross then, I imagine they've been working on it all this while?
[/COLOR]Unexpected to see such a huge flame plume if there's no explosive pushing it.
Though there must be tremendous heat from the flux put through the projectile.
Maybe designing the round not to turn into a blob is what's limiting the development?
Click to expand...


It started with one small step at a time. Capacitor miniturization was critical in the development for the power. The linear motor can be found in applications such as the high speed electro/magnetic trains. The biggest problem has always been to minimize the power loss. Other interesting potential applications that have been looked at is a catapult for aircraft and possibly launching of space vehicles. When dreaming, you may as well dream big.:icon_lol:
 
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