The real rail gun. Mach 7

[joe]

Navy is taking its rail gun to sea. A projectile traveling a Mach 7.

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/04/navy-prepares-to-take-rail-gun-to-sea/

 

[benchrest]

fellas look i really really REALLY need one of these. also need help mounting a benchrest stock onto it. donations accepted.

 

[Snow Bird]

That thing is something else. Wonder how much power it takes to power it up. Looks like I will be doing some net surfing on this one.

 

[TraderDan]

Go ahead MOA "That thing will leave a MARK!"

 

[M.O.A.]

Go ahead MOA "That thing will leave a MARK!"

Damn Skippy !! I want one

 

[fl57caveman]

wow...

 

[Droshki]

Yea, they've been working on these for decades. I dont know why they cant get one into production.

 

[Droshki]

Huh:
There are still two major problems holding the railgun back. The first is meeting the weapon’s massive power requirements at sea. The second is demonstrating that it’ll be ‘better’ than existing weapons.

The railgun launches rounds using electromagnetic force rather than explosive propellant. The USN prototype has 100MJ of pulse-power capacitors and a 25MW powerplant for recharging. The capacitors release their stored charge into the railgun barrel in a hundredth of a second, accelerating the projectile to about Mach 6. The USN’s goal is to fire ten rounds per minute, so the capacitors need to be recharged to fire every 6 seconds.

Few warships have the spare electrical capacity the weapon requires. The strongest candidate is the USN’s Zumwalt-class destroyer, whose 78MW integrated power system can dynamically distribute power between propulsion and on-board systems. It should have about 58MW of reserve power while steaming at 20 knots. By comparison, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer has only 7.5MW for on-board systems.

Full article here:


US Navy's Railgun Dream Could Be Denied By Two Big Problems